Independent Advisor Alliance Boosts Position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,541 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,210 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Sysco were worth $1,571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in Sysco by 11.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,294,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,130,617,000 after acquiring an additional 2,721,449 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in Sysco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $137,900,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Sysco during the fourth quarter worth about $97,078,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 52.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,719,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,666,000 after acquiring an additional 933,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Sysco by 42.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,730,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,341,000 after purchasing an additional 809,582 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total value of $3,698,079.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,335,408. This represents a 46.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SYY has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Sysco from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Sysco from $93.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Sysco from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Sysco from $79.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Sysco to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sysco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.77.

Sysco Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:SYY opened at $73.35 on Friday. 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 50 day simple moving average of $73.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.52. The company has a market capitalization of $35.89 billion, a PE ratio of 18.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.11. Sysco Co. has a twelve month low of $69.03 and a twelve month high of $82.33.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors 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 2.78%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio 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.