Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Decreases Stock Position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. decreased its position in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 233,322 shares of the company’s stock after selling 36,090 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Sysco were worth $16,657,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SYY. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Sysco by 17.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,984,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $891,758,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637,232 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 112.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,612,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $536,770,000 after buying an additional 3,504,740 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Sysco during the 4th quarter valued at about $450,794,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Sysco by 49.8% during the second quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,012,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,240,000 after acquiring an additional 1,997,895 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Sysco by 132.9% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,653,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,177,000 after acquiring an additional 2,084,501 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Sysco Price Performance

NYSE SYY opened at $76.52 on Monday. Sysco Co. has a 12 month low of $62.24 and a 12 month high of $82.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.11 billion, a PE ratio of 18.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.19, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $20.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.51 billion. Sysco had a return on equity of 102.09% and a net margin of 2.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SYY has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on 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 Sysco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Sysco from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Sysco from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sysco from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.27.

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.