Sysco (NYSE:SYY) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Sysco (NYSE:SYY) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday morning.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Melius Research raised Sysco to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Sysco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Melius assumed coverage on Sysco in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sysco has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.21.

Sysco Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Sysco stock opened at $71.96 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $35.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.18. Sysco has a 1 year low of $69.03 and a 1 year high of $82.89. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.38.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.93. Sysco had a net margin of 2.44% and a return on equity of 101.04%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sysco will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 6,499 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $519,920.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at $3,876,080. This trade represents a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sheila Talton sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $216,427.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $966,831.65. This represents a 18.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 83,306 shares of company stock worth $6,485,050 over the last three months. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sysco

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in shares of Sysco during the third quarter worth about $137,900,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Sysco by 52.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,719,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,666,000 after buying an additional 933,327 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Sysco by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,685,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,874,000 after acquiring an additional 672,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Sysco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,722,000. 83.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.