River Road Asset Management LLC Lowers Stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

River Road Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 184,699 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,876 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Sysco were worth $13,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Sysco by 263.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 34,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,246,000 after buying an additional 24,650 shares in the last quarter. Professional Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Sysco in the 4th quarter worth $20,057,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new position in Sysco in the 4th quarter worth $4,623,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Sysco by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 82,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,014,000 after purchasing an additional 23,558 shares during the period. Finally, Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC raised its position in Sysco by 161.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC now owns 18,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 11,269 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $137,760.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,926,560. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sysco Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of SYY opened at $75.44 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $79.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.00. Sysco Co. has a 1-year low of $62.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $19.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.32 billion. Sysco had a net margin of 2.69% and a return on equity of 105.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Sysco’s payout ratio is currently 48.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SYY shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Sysco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.38.

About Sysco

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.