Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Sells 44,606 Shares of Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC cut its stake in Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) by 73.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,938 shares of the company’s stock after selling 44,606 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Sanofi were worth $769,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SNY. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Sanofi by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,059,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $581,619,000 after acquiring an additional 408,752 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Sanofi by 88.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,843,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $522,991,000 after purchasing an additional 5,091,304 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of Sanofi by 86.4% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,396,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,607,000 after purchasing an additional 2,501,073 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sanofi by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,776,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $182,164,000 after purchasing an additional 369,530 shares during the period. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Sanofi by 104.3% in the fourth quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 3,340,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,103,000 after buying an additional 1,705,148 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 14.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on SNY. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Sanofi in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Sanofi to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Sanofi from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Sanofi in a report on Friday, March 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.33.

Sanofi Price Performance

Sanofi stock opened at $54.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. Sanofi has a 52 week low of $45.80 and a 52 week high of $60.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $54.51 and a 200-day moving average of $52.07.

Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $10.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.79 billion. Sanofi had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 25.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Sanofi will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sanofi Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $2.0369 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This is a boost from Sanofi’s previous annual dividend of $1.48. Sanofi’s payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

About Sanofi

Sanofi, a healthcare company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of therapeutic solutions in the United States, Europe, Canada, and internationally. It operates through Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare segments. The company provides specialty care, such as DUPIXENT, neurology and immunology, rare diseases, oncology, and rare blood disorders; medicines for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases; and established prescription products.