Tufton Capital Management Lowers Stock Position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Tufton Capital Management lessened its stake in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,432 shares of the company’s stock after selling 900 shares during the quarter. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in Sysco were worth $1,180,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SYY. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sysco by 142.7% in the fourth quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,036,000 after purchasing an additional 15,652 shares during the period. VELA Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sysco by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 60,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,639,000 after purchasing an additional 2,452 shares during the period. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sysco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $282,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sysco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,813,000. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sysco by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 48,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,698,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of Sysco stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total value of $3,698,079.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,304 shares in the company, valued at $4,335,408. This trade represents a 46.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 6,499 shares of Sysco stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $519,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,876,080. This trade represents a 11.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 76,370 shares of company stock valued at $5,965,519 in the last ninety days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sysco Stock Performance

Shares of Sysco stock opened at $74.68 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.20, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.17. Sysco Co. has a 12 month low of $69.03 and a 12 month high of $82.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. Sysco had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 106.30%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Sysco’s payout ratio is 52.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SYY has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Sysco from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Melius Research raised shares of Sysco to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Sysco from $93.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sysco presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.77.

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.