Contravisory Investment Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 16,960 Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY)

Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 16,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SNY. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Sanofi by 952.6% during the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 600 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sanofi during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Sanofi by 59.8% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 647 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Sanofi in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sanofi in the fourth quarter worth approximately $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.04% of the company's stock.

Sanofi Price Performance

Shares of SNY stock traded up $0.26 on Thursday, hitting $49.76. 1,887,369 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,405,652. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Sanofi has a 52 week low of $45.80 and a 52 week high of $60.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.92. The firm has a market cap of $122.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.98, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.50.

Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $10.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.79 billion. Sanofi had a return on equity of 25.61% and a net margin of 12.77%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sanofi will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sanofi Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $2.0369 per share. This represents a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This is an increase from Sanofi's previous annual dividend of $1.48. Sanofi's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on SNY. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Sanofi in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Sanofi in a research note on Friday, March 21st. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Sanofi to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sanofi presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $63.33.

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.