Coho Partners Ltd. Has $95.65 Million Position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Coho Partners Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 18.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,250,943 shares of the company’s stock after selling 278,984 shares during the period. Sysco comprises about 4.4% of Coho Partners Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Coho Partners Ltd.’s holdings in Sysco were worth $95,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew 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 valued at $2,130,617,000 after buying an additional 2,721,449 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in Sysco during the third quarter valued at approximately $137,900,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised 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 acquiring an additional 933,327 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 672,940 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in Sysco in the third quarter worth approximately $44,722,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Sysco Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of Sysco stock opened at $71.87 on Friday. Sysco Co. has a 52-week low of $69.03 and a 52-week high of $82.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $75.27 and a 200 day moving average of $75.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66. The company has a market capitalization of $35.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.17.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on SYY. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Sysco from $93.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Sysco from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Sysco from $79.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sysco from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Sheila Talton sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $216,427.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $966,831.65. This represents a 18.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total value of $3,698,079.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 56,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,335,408. This trade represents a 46.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 79,270 shares of company stock worth $6,181,946 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.54% 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.