Sysco (NYSE:SYY) Receives “Buy” Rating from Guggenheim

Sysco (NYSE:SYY)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at Guggenheim in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $85.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 15.91% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on SYY. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Sysco from $93.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Sysco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.21.

Sysco Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Sysco stock opened at $73.33 on Wednesday. Sysco has a 1 year low of $69.03 and a 1 year high of $82.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.38, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $36.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.85, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s fifty day moving average is $76.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.00.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.93. Sysco had a net margin of 2.44% and a return on equity of 101.04%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. Analysts forecast that Sysco will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of Sysco stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total transaction of $3,698,079.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,304 shares in the company, valued at $4,335,408. The trade was a 46.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sheila Talton sold 2,900 shares of Sysco stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $216,427.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $966,831.65. This trade represents a 18.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 79,270 shares of company stock worth $6,181,946. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sysco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SYY. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Sysco by 11.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,294,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,130,617,000 after buying an additional 2,721,449 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in Sysco during the third quarter worth approximately $137,900,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Sysco by 52.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,719,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,666,000 after purchasing an additional 933,327 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Sysco by 11.2% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,685,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,874,000 after purchasing an additional 672,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Sysco during the third quarter worth approximately $44,722,000. 83.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.