StockNews.com Downgrades Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) to Buy
the company. This is just a brief summary of a much longer article. The article goes on to say that the reason for the downgrade is because Sanofi has been facing some difficult challenges as of late.
In a report released on Friday morning, the rating went from strong-buy to buy.
Other analysts have also commented on the stock recently. Argus raised their target price for shares of Sanofi in a Monday, March 27th report from $55.00 up to $60.00. The company was also given a buy recommendation. Barclays upgraded shares of Sanofi to an overweight rating from equal weight in a report published on Monday, 27th March. In a report published on Friday, 28th April, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft changed the rating of Sanofi's shares from hold to sell. Seven analysts have given the stock a buy recommendation, while one analyst has given it a sell. On Friday, the price opened at $54.54. Sanofi's 52-week low is $36.91, and its 52-week high is $57.82. The debt-to equity ratio for the company is 0.20. Its quick ratio is 1.05, and its current ratio is 1.42. The company has a moving average of $50.66 and $55.11 for the last 50 days. The company has a market capitalization of $137.55 billion, a PE ratio of 19.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.57.
The company last announced its earnings on Thursday, 27th April. The company posted $1.16 per share in earnings for the first quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate by $0.06 Sanofi's net margin was 15.41%, and its return on equity was 28.45%. The company had revenue of $10.97bn during the third quarter compared with the consensus estimate $11.60bn. Analysts expect Sanofi to post 4.48 earnings-per-share for the current fiscal year.
Sanofi Reduces Dividend
A recent announcement by the company also announced a dividend payment date of Friday, 23rd June. Investors who were in the market on May 31st, will receive a dividend of $1.377. The dividend is payable on Tuesday, May 30, 2009. This yield is 2.94%. Sanofi’s current dividend payout ratio is 49.10%.
Institutional investors weigh in on Sanofi
Hedge funds and institutional investors have bought and sold stock recently. Aspire Private Capital LLC bought a new stake of Sanofi valued at $14.911,080,000 in the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new Sanofi position valued at $26,000 in the first quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new Sanofi position during the second quarter for $28,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new Sanofi position valued at $27,000 in the fourth quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC also increased its holdings in Sanofi in the first quarter by 2,270.8%. Disciplined Investments LLC owns 569 of the company’s shares valued at $31,000, after buying an additional 545 during the period. Hedge funds and institutional investors own 10.04 % of the company's stock.
Sanofi Company profile
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Sanofi is engaged in the production and distribution of pharmaceuticals. The company operates in three business segments: Pharmaceuticals Consumer Healthcare and Vaccines. The Pharmaceuticals segment includes the global franchises of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, specialty care, generics and established prescription products, as well as research, development and production activities.
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