Stephens Inc. AR Purchases 462 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,260 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Sysco were worth $2,084,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SYY. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in Sysco by 1,240.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 335 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Sysco during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in Sysco during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Focused Wealth Management Inc purchased a new stake in Sysco in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Canoe Financial LP purchased a new stake in Sysco in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SYY. UBS Group dropped their price target on Sysco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Melius Research raised Sysco to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Sysco from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sysco from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.38.

Insider Transactions at Sysco

In other news, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 6,499 shares of Sysco stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 48,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,876,080. The trade was a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheila Talton sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $216,427.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $966,831.65. This represents a 18.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 79,270 shares of company stock worth $6,181,946 in the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sysco Price Performance

Shares of SYY opened at $70.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $34.53 billion, a PE ratio of 18.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.17. Sysco Co. has a 1-year low of $69.03 and a 1-year high of $82.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.94.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 106.30% and a net margin of 2.40%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. Sysco’s payout ratio is presently 52.44%.

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.