Grove Bank & Trust Sells 2,505 Shares of Sysco Corporation (NYSE:SYY)

Grove Bank & Trust cut its holdings in shares of Sysco Corporation (NYSE:SYY) by 22.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,838 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,505 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Sysco were worth $663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Sysco Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of SYY opened at $74.25 on Wednesday. Sysco Corporation has a 52-week low of $67.12 and a 52-week high of $82.23. The stock has a market cap of $35.99 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $72.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.37.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.06). Sysco had a return on equity of 107.96% and a net margin of 2.36%. The business had revenue of $19.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Sysco Corporation will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 is a boost from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on SYY. 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. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $87.00 price target on shares of Sysco and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Sysco from $87.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Sysco from $86.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Four 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, Sysco currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

About Sysco

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.