Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Sells 1,356 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. reduced its stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 23,161 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,356 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Sysco were worth $1,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Sysco by 143.7% in the fourth 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 period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,721,449 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in shares of Sysco in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $137,900,000. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD bought a new position in Sysco during the 4th quarter worth approximately $123,928,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Sysco during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $97,078,000. 83.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SYY has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Sysco from $93.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Sysco from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Sysco from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Melius Research raised shares of Sysco to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.77.

Sysco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SYY opened at $71.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $34.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $73.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.41. Sysco Co. has a one year low of $69.03 and a one year high of $82.33.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. Sysco had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 106.30%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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 approximately $4,335,408. This represents a 46.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sysco 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.