Vest Financial LLC Sells 29,423 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Vest Financial LLC cut its holdings in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 733,235 shares of the company’s stock after selling 29,423 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC owned approximately 0.15% of Sysco worth $55,022,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Sysco by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,519,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,703,775,000 after acquiring an additional 429,711 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Sysco by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,907,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,292,751,000 after buying an additional 851,441 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in Sysco by 143.7% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,184,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $930,296,000 after buying an additional 7,184,754 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Sysco by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,868,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $905,120,000 after buying an additional 233,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Sysco by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,991,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $687,488,000 after buying an additional 1,928,002 shares during the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sysco Stock Up 1.1%

SYY opened at $73.73 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $71.68 and a 200 day moving average of $73.70. The company has a market cap of $35.74 billion, a PE ratio of 18.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.81. Sysco Co. has a 12 month low of $67.12 and a 12 month high of $82.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $19.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.11 billion. Sysco had a return on equity of 106.30% and a net margin of 2.40%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. This is an increase from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sysco

In other Sysco news, Director Sheila Talton sold 356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.84, for a total value of $25,219.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $902,359.92. This trade represents a 2.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SYY has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Sysco from $86.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Sysco from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Sysco from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.00.

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.