Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,269,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,078,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Sysco by 11.1% in 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. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake 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. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its stake in Sysco by 9.7% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,796,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,410,000 after acquiring an additional 422,954 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Sysco by 8.5% in the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 4,790,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,789,000 after acquiring an additional 375,409 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Sysco by 4.1% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,265,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $332,983,000 after acquiring an additional 168,163 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Sysco from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Sysco in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Sysco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Sysco from $93.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Melius Research raised Sysco to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.77.

Sysco Price Performance

NYSE SYY opened at $76.53 on Friday. Sysco Co. has a one year low of $69.03 and a one year high of $82.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $73.47 and a 200 day moving average of $75.61. The company has a market capitalization of $37.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.20.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Sysco’s payout ratio is 52.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sysco news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.