European Dividend Aristocrat Sanofi speeds up dividend growth in 2023

On February 3, 2023, French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, a Dividend Aristocrat, announced its annual dividend increase with a 6.9% hike to €3.56 per share for FY 2022. This is the biggest dividend increase by Sanofi in the last 14 years.

A big surprise, that surely is how the Sanofi (France) dividend announcement Today can be described. In the last couple of years Sanofi only announced small dividend hikes with an average dividend growth rate of just 2.5% annually in the last 10 years. 

Last year (2022) Sanofi, specialized in pharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare products and vaccines, already announced a bigger dividend hike of 4.1% to a new record high of €3.33 per share for FY 2021. This is followed by an even bigger increase of 6.9% to €3.56 per share for Sanofi shareholders this year. All together it is the biggest dividend increase for the company since FY 2009 when a 9.1% dividend hike was announced. After a couple years of slow dividend growth, 2023 marks the first year with a 5%+ hike by Sanofi, which is a great sign for a company with more than 25 consecutive years of dividend growth

SANOFI ANNUAL DIVIDEND HIKES

• 2023: +6.9% (€3.56 per share dividend proposed for FY 2022)
• 2022: +4.1%
• 2021: +1.6%
• 2020: +2.6%
• 2019: +1.3%

Sanofi is only one of a few real European Dividend Aristocrats with more than 25 consecutive years of dividend increases. Sanofi typically pays only 1 dividend every year with the ex-dividend date declared in the first week of May. At this moment the ex-dividend date for the 2023 dividend has not been announced yet by Sanofi. An interesting fact is the cosmetics giant L'Oréal, also from France, is the biggest shareholder in Sanofi with a 9.38% stake.

Aristocrat Sanofi has raised its dividend for many years

At a stock price of €85.14 the dividend yield for Sanofi is approximately 4.1%. Sanofi will now pay an estimated annual dividend of €4.45 billion to shareholders. The current market cap for Sanofi is €107 billion. 

Earlier this week Swiss peer Novartis, also a Dividend Aristocrat with 26 consecutive years of dividend growth, announced its annual increase of 3.2%, followed by Roche (also Switzerland) with a 2% dividend hike Yesterday.

Sanofi SA is a pharmaceutical company from France with operating segments Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Healthcare and Vaccines. Sanofi activities comprise Dupixent, Neurology & Immunology, Rare Diseases, Oncology, Rare Blood Disorders, Diabetes,Cardiovascular and Established Prescription Products. Consumer Healthcare and Vaccines. The current Sanofi corporation was incorporated under the laws of France in 1994 as a société anonyme, a form of limited liability

company, for a term of 99 years. Since May 2011, Sanofi have operated under the commercial name “Sanofi” (formerly known as SanofiAventis).