Cannell & Co. Purchases 35,089 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Cannell & Co. boosted its position in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 20.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 206,834 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 35,089 shares during the quarter. Cannell & Co.’s holdings in Sysco were worth $15,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Sysco by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,859,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,283,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076,287 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Sysco by 3.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,138,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,435,000 after purchasing an additional 178,464 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Sysco by 4.9% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,651,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,298,000 after purchasing an additional 265,621 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Sysco by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,738,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,907,000 after buying an additional 21,700 shares during the period. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $153,240,000 after buying an additional 9,385 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens lifted their price objective on Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Sysco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sysco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.67.

Sysco Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:SYY traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $73.49. The stock had a trading volume of 1,784,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,933,051. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $79.02 and a 200 day moving average of $75.11. The company has a market capitalization of $36.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.91, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.15. Sysco Co. has a one year low of $62.24 and a one year high of $82.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.00.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $19.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.74 billion. Sysco had a net margin of 2.69% and a return on equity of 105.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This is a boost from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.