Palisade Asset Management LLC Sells 60,814 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Palisade Asset Management LLC cut its stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 49.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,381 shares of the company’s stock after selling 60,814 shares during the period. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Sysco were worth $4,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 11.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,859,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,283,000 after acquiring an additional 1,076,287 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Sysco by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,138,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,435,000 after purchasing an additional 178,464 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,798,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,640,000 after buying an additional 59,371 shares during the period. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Sysco by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,320,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,240,000 after buying an additional 9,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in shares of Sysco by 2.2% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,158,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,552,000 after buying an additional 45,505 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Sysco from $92.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Sysco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Sysco from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $137,760.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,082 shares in the company, valued at $1,926,560. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Sysco Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of SYY traded down $1.19 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $74.62. The stock had a trading volume of 2,929,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,962,257. Sysco Co. has a 1-year low of $62.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.77, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $37.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.45.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.01. Sysco had a return on equity of 99.88% and a net margin of 2.66%. The company had revenue of $19.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Sysco Co. will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This is a positive change from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.76%.

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.