Sysco (NYSE:SYY) Research Coverage Started at Melius

Melius initiated coverage on shares of Sysco (NYSE:SYY) in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock.

SYY has been the subject of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Sysco from $87.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Sysco from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.93.

Sysco Trading Up 0.5 %

Sysco stock opened at $76.97 on Wednesday. Sysco has a one year low of $69.03 and a one year high of $82.89. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $76.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.38, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $37.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.19.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.04). Sysco had a net margin of 2.44% and a return on equity of 101.04%. The company had revenue of $20.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Sysco will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. Sysco’s payout ratio is currently 52.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sysco news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 21,844 shares of Sysco stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $1,747,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 60,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,846,480. This trade represents a 26.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 4,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.10, for a total transaction of $303,103.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,638,670.10. The trade was a 7.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,279 shares of company stock worth $2,786,971 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sysco

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SYY. State Street Corp raised its position in Sysco by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,294,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,130,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,721,449 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sysco by 103.0% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 4,746,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,830,000 after buying an additional 2,408,226 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Sysco by 49.8% during the 2nd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,012,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,240,000 after buying an additional 1,997,895 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Sysco by 26.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,623,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $615,076,000 after acquiring an additional 1,782,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in Sysco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $137,900,000. 83.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.