Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,269,657 Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,269,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,078,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.26% of Sysco as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SYY. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Sysco by 10.6% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Sysco during the third quarter valued at about $62,000. Graypoint LLC lifted its holdings in Sysco by 12.1% during the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Sysco by 3.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 608,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,471,000 after purchasing an additional 22,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Sysco by 9.3% during the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. 83.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Sysco from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays decreased their price target on Sysco from $93.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Melius Research upgraded Sysco to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Sysco from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sysco

In other Sysco news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,304 shares in the company, valued at $4,335,408. This trade represents a 46.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Sysco Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE SYY opened at $76.53 on Friday. Sysco Co. has a one year low of $69.03 and a one year high of $82.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.11.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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 previous year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Sysco’s payout ratio is currently 52.44%.

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.