Blue Trust Inc. Buys 662 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,387 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Sysco were worth $1,384,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of Sysco by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 298,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,865,000 after purchasing an additional 41,618 shares during the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sysco during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $841,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Sysco by 3,159.0% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 7,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $495,000 after acquiring an additional 6,855 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new position in Sysco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $916,000. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Sysco by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 597,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,674,000 after acquiring an additional 62,556 shares during the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Sysco from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Sysco from $90.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Guggenheim raised shares of Sysco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Sysco from $91.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sysco presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.27.

Sysco Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SYY traded up $0.81 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $76.57. 2,197,203 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,204,062. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.19, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.20. The company has a market cap of $38.13 billion, a PE ratio of 18.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.11. Sysco Co. has a 1-year low of $62.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $20.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.51 billion. Sysco had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 102.09%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sysco Co. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. Sysco’s payout ratio is 49.76%.

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.