Brandes Investment Partners LP Has $141.18 Million Stock Position in Sanofi $SNY

Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its position in Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,913,256 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90,285 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned about 0.12% of Sanofi worth $141,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in Sanofi by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,812,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,815,000 after acquiring an additional 68,801 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Sanofi by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,100,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,151,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168,339 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Sanofi by 288.4% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 923 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in Sanofi during the fourth quarter worth approximately $79,960,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in Sanofi during the fourth quarter worth approximately $678,000. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Sanofi to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Sanofi from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Sanofi from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Sanofi in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Sanofi to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

Sanofi Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SNY opened at $44.73 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.22. Sanofi has a 1 year low of $42.28 and a 1 year high of $52.68.

Sanofi Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $2.4225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This is a boost from Sanofi’s previous annual dividend of $2.04. This represents a dividend yield of 559.0%. Sanofi’s payout ratio is presently 49.16%.

About Sanofi

Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) is a multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in France that researches, develops, manufactures and markets prescription medicines, vaccines and consumer healthcare products. The company operates across multiple therapeutic areas, including immunology, rare diseases, oncology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, and vaccines through its Sanofi Pasteur division. Sanofi sells products to hospitals, clinics, governments and retail pharmacies, with a broad global footprint and significant presence in Europe, North America and emerging markets.

Key commercial offerings include specialty biologics and established small-molecule medicines.