Ethic Inc. Acquires 6,659 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Ethic Inc. raised its stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 125,325 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,659 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Sysco were worth $9,582,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Sysco by 43.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,715,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,902,000 after acquiring an additional 517,219 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Sysco by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 572,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,038,000 after buying an additional 73,306 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Sysco by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 608,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,471,000 after buying an additional 22,513 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 69.5% in the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 11,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $909,000 after buying an additional 4,876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 31,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,398,000 after acquiring an additional 4,393 shares during the period. 83.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Sysco

In other Sysco news, Director Sheila Talton sold 356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.84, for a total transaction of $25,219.04. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $902,359.92. This trade represents a 2.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SYY shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on Sysco from $86.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $87.00 target price on shares of Sysco and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Sysco from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Sysco from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.38.

Sysco Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of SYY opened at $71.63 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.72 billion, a PE ratio of 18.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.80. Sysco Co. has a 12-month low of $67.12 and a 12-month high of $82.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $19.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.11 billion. Sysco had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 106.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. This is an increase from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio is 55.96%.

Sysco Company Profile

Sysco Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the marketing and distribution of various food and related products to the foodservice or food-away-from-home industry in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and internationally. It operates through U.S. Foodservice Operations, International Foodservice Operations, SYGMA, and Other segments.