Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Buys 1,194,141 Shares of Sanofi $SNY

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) by 728,134.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,194,305 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,194,141 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sanofi were worth $57,542,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Sanofi by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,102,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,093,000 after acquiring an additional 1,540,271 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Sanofi by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,110,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,133,000 after acquiring an additional 313,327 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Sanofi by 81.3% during the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,879,894 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,058,000 after purchasing an additional 2,635,867 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sanofi by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,100,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168,339 shares during the period. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD boosted its position in shares of Sanofi by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 4,495,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,845,000 after purchasing an additional 856,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on SNY shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Sanofi from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Sanofi to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Sanofi in a report on Monday, April 13th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Sanofi from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $49.00 target price on Sanofi in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.50.

Sanofi Price Performance

Shares of Sanofi stock traded down $0.40 on Friday, hitting $43.50. 2,661,848 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,024,977. Sanofi has a 52 week low of $40.89 and a 52 week high of $52.68. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.34.

Sanofi Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $2.4225 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a yield of 559.0%. This is an increase from Sanofi’s previous annual dividend of $2.04. 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.