abrdn plc Raises Stock Holdings in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

abrdn plc lifted its position in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 70.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 213,018 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 88,211 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Sysco were worth $15,578,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sysco by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 8,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Sysco by 38.2% in the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 7,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 2,024 shares during the period. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new stake in Sysco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,201,000. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sysco by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. Finally, Institute for Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Sysco by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 3,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sysco

In other news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was 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 $1,926,560. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SYY shares. 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 target price on Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.38.

Sysco Stock Performance

SYY opened at $77.29 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.00, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $38.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.15. Sysco Co. has a 1-year low of $62.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $19.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.32 billion. Sysco had a return on equity of 105.22% and a net margin of 2.69%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.90%.

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.