Stonegate Investment Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 0.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 31,981 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Sysco were worth $2,596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Sysco by 1.2% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 204,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,514,000 after purchasing an additional 2,399 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of Sysco by 25.2% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 266,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,586,000 after purchasing an additional 53,622 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH increased its position in Sysco by 3.7% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 4,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co purchased a new stake in Sysco during the third quarter valued at $333,000. Finally, Country Club Bank GFN lifted its position in Sysco by 4.0% during the third quarter. Country Club Bank GFN now owns 5,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sysco news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the company’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 directly owns 24,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,926,560. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Sysco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com lowered Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Stephens increased their target price on shares of Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.38.

Sysco Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE:SYY traded down $2.90 on Tuesday, hitting $74.32. 7,972,734 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,948,538. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.15. Sysco Co. has a 12 month low of $62.24 and a 12 month high of $82.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.00, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.11.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $19.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.32 billion. Sysco had a net margin of 2.69% and a return on equity of 105.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This is a positive change 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 dividend yield of 2.74%. Sysco’s payout ratio is presently 48.90%.

Sysco Company 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.