Amalgamated Bank Reduces Stock Position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Amalgamated Bank decreased its position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 127,621 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,246 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Sysco were worth $9,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SYY. Trian Fund Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Sysco in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $80,812,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Sysco by 11.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,859,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,283,000 after acquiring an additional 1,076,287 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Sysco by 1,591.5% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 764,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,462,000 after acquiring an additional 719,054 shares during the period. Becker Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Sysco by 3,671.0% during the 3rd quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 470,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,102,000 after purchasing an additional 458,401 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL bought a new position in Sysco in the 4th quarter worth $32,976,000. 83.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sysco

In other news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $137,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,926,560. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SYY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target 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. Stephens raised their target price on Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Sysco from $92.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.56.

Sysco Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Sysco stock traded up $1.11 on Friday, reaching $75.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,709,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,778,819. The company has a market capitalization of $37.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.77. Sysco Co. has a 52 week low of $62.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.09.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $19.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.74 billion. Sysco had a return on equity of 99.88% and a net margin of 2.66%. Sysco’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This is a boost from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio is 48.78%.

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.