Dover Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Dover Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SYY. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,519,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,703,775,000 after buying an additional 429,711 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,907,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,292,751,000 after buying an additional 851,441 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 143.7% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,184,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $930,296,000 after buying an additional 7,184,754 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,868,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $905,120,000 after buying an additional 233,885 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,991,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $687,488,000 after buying an additional 1,928,002 shares during the period. 83.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SYY shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Sysco from $87.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Sysco in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $78.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Sysco from $86.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $87.00 price objective on Sysco and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.00.

Sysco Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of SYY stock opened at $74.24 on Friday. Sysco Co. has a 52-week low of $67.12 and a 52-week high of $82.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.99 billion, a PE ratio of 19.09, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.69.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.06). Sysco had a return on equity of 106.30% and a net margin of 2.40%. The business had revenue of $19.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This is a positive change from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.96%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sheila Talton sold 356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.84, for a total transaction of $25,219.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,738 shares in the company, valued at $902,359.92. This trade represents a 2.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company 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.