Wendell David Associates Inc. Sells 4,400 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Wendell David Associates Inc. lessened its stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,400 shares during the quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc.’s holdings in Sysco were worth $4,848,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Sysco by 11.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,294,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,130,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,721,449 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Sysco by 26.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,623,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $615,076,000 after buying an additional 1,782,180 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sysco by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,685,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,874,000 after buying an additional 672,940 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in shares of Sysco by 9.7% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,796,439 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,410,000 after acquiring an additional 422,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Sysco by 8.5% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 4,790,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,789,000 after acquiring an additional 375,409 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, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 4,036 shares of Sysco stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.10, for a total value of $303,103.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,638,670.10. The trade was a 7.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheila Talton sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $216,427.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $966,831.65. This represents a 18.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 83,306 shares of company stock valued at $6,485,050 over the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Melius Research upgraded Sysco to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Melius started coverage on shares of Sysco in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Sysco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Sysco from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sysco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.79.

Sysco Price Performance

Sysco stock opened at $73.41 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.90. Sysco Co. has a 52 week low of $69.03 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The stock has a market cap of $36.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.87, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.38.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $20.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.47 billion. Sysco had a net margin of 2.44% and a return on equity of 101.04%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. Sysco’s payout ratio is 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.