Rockland Trust Co. Takes $364,000 Position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Rockland Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Sysco in the 2nd quarter valued at $257,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,913,000 after purchasing an additional 3,022 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 10.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,701,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $264,262,000 after purchasing an additional 359,640 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Sysco by 39.2% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 160,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,435,000 after buying an additional 45,082 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Sysco by 1,013.0% during the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 67,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,788,000 after buying an additional 61,044 shares in the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sysco

In other Sysco news, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 6,499 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $519,920.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at $3,876,080. This trade represents a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sheila Talton sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value 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. The trade was a 18.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 83,306 shares of company stock valued at $6,485,050 in the last ninety days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sysco Trading Up 0.2 %

SYY stock opened at $74.09 on Thursday. Sysco Co. has a one year low of $69.03 and a one year high of $82.89. The stock has a market cap of $36.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $76.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.38, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $20.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.47 billion. Sysco had a net margin of 2.44% and a return on equity of 101.04%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on SYY. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Sysco from $87.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Sysco to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sysco from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Melius assumed coverage on Sysco in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.93.

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.