Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC Sells 200 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC cut its stake in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,776 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC’s holdings in Sysco were worth $289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SYY. State Street Corp boosted its position 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 valued at $2,130,617,000 after buying an additional 2,721,449 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in Sysco in the third quarter worth about $137,900,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Sysco by 52.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,719,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,666,000 after purchasing an additional 933,327 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Sysco by 11.2% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,685,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,874,000 after purchasing an additional 672,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Sysco in the third quarter worth about $44,722,000. 83.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on SYY shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Sysco from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Sysco in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Melius began coverage on Sysco in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. They set a “hold” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Sysco from $79.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sysco presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.77.

Insider Transactions at Sysco

In other Sysco news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total transaction of $3,698,079.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 56,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,335,408. This represents a 46.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 6,499 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $519,920.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at $3,876,080. This represents a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 76,370 shares of company stock worth $5,965,519 over the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sysco Trading Up 1.1 %

SYY opened at $75.53 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $73.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.65. Sysco Co. has a 12 month low of $69.03 and a 12 month high of $82.33. The firm has a market cap of $36.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.93. Sysco had a return on equity of 106.30% and a net margin of 2.40%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. 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.