Bridgewater Associates LP Lowers Holdings in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Bridgewater Associates LP reduced its stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 35.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 309,424 shares of the company’s stock after selling 172,758 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP owned approximately 0.06% of Sysco worth $24,154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SYY. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Sysco by 10.0% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 18,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,464,000 after acquiring an additional 1,706 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Bank increased its holdings in shares of Sysco by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 65,583 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,119,000 after purchasing an additional 1,449 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 19.5% in the third quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Sysco during the third quarter valued at $98,000. Finally, Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Sysco by 0.6% during the third quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 101,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,944,000 after buying an additional 651 shares during the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Sysco from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Sysco from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Sysco from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Sysco currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 4,036 shares of Sysco stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.10, for a total value of $303,103.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,638,670.10. The trade was a 7.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheila Talton sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly 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. 0.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Sysco Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SYY opened at $76.65 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.20. Sysco Co. has a 1-year low of $69.03 and a 1-year high of $82.89. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.76. 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $20.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.47 billion. Sysco had a return on equity of 101.04% and a net margin of 2.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. Research analysts expect that Sysco Co. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.44%.

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.