Arizona State Retirement System Sells 3,155 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Arizona State Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,629 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,155 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Sysco were worth $10,676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fortem Financial Group LLC raised its position in Sysco by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Sysco by 53.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 430 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. S.A. Mason LLC raised its position in Sysco by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC raised its position in Sysco by 3.9% during the third quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 4,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in Sysco by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on SYY. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Sysco from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Sysco to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Melius started coverage on shares of Sysco in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Sysco from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.77.

Sysco Trading Up 0.8 %

SYY stock opened at $75.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.20. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.62. Sysco Co. has a 52 week low of $69.03 and a 52 week high of $82.33. The company has a market capitalization of $36.71 billion, a PE ratio of 19.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.17.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (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 in the prior year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. Sysco’s payout ratio is 52.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sysco news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total transaction of $3,698,079.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,304 shares in the company, valued at $4,335,408. This represents a 46.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Sysco Company 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.