Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Takes Position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in shares of Sysco by 2.3% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 10,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $684,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Sysco by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 5,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $912,000 after purchasing an additional 3,416 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Sysco by 203.7% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 257,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,999,000 after purchasing an additional 172,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Sysco in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SYY has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Sysco from $92.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on shares of Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.56.

Sysco Stock Performance

SYY stock traded up $0.36 on Tuesday, reaching $75.84. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,333,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,970,474. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $78.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.77, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $37.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.16. Sysco Co. has a 52 week low of $62.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $19.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.74 billion. Sysco had a return on equity of 99.88% and a net margin of 2.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Sysco Co. will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This is a boost from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.78%.

Insider Activity at Sysco

In other Sysco news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $137,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company 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.