John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Boosts Stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 54.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 70,535 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,950 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Sysco were worth $5,158,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SYY. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Sysco by 70,686.4% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,967,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $532,666,000 after purchasing an additional 6,957,665 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Sysco during the fourth quarter valued at about $397,373,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Sysco by 34.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,459,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $493,859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,666,008 shares in the last quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Sysco by 7,204.3% in the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 1,293,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,381,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trian Fund Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Sysco in the third quarter valued at about $80,812,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sysco news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $137,760.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,926,560. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sysco Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:SYY traded up $1.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $76.73. The stock had a trading volume of 2,517,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,917,314. The company has a market capitalization of $38.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $79.44 and a 200 day moving average of $74.24. Sysco Co. has a one year low of $62.24 and a one year high of $82.89.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $19.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.32 billion. Sysco had a return on equity of 105.22% and a net margin of 2.69%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stephens upped their price objective on Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Sysco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.38.

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.