Sowell Financial Services LLC Buys 2,809 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Sowell Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 19.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,483 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,809 shares during the quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Sysco were worth $1,337,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New England Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Sysco by 12.7% during the third quarter. New England Asset Management Inc. now owns 131,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,254,000 after purchasing an additional 14,810 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 29.0% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 78,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,115,000 after acquiring an additional 17,587 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 11.2% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,685,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,874,000 after acquiring an additional 672,940 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 4,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 7.7% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 124,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,706,000 after acquiring an additional 8,891 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,335,408. This trade represents a 46.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. 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 research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Sysco from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Sysco from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sysco currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.77.

Sysco Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Sysco stock opened at $76.96 on Tuesday. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $69.03 and a 1 year high of $82.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $73.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.60. The stock has a market cap of $37.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.78, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Sysco’s payout ratio is 52.44%.

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.