Berkeley Capital Partners LLC Purchases New Position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Berkeley Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 17,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,321,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Sysco by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 3,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Morton Community Bank lifted its stake in Sysco by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Morton Community Bank now owns 40,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,103,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Sysco by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 430 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. S.A. Mason LLC raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 19,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on SYY. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Sysco from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Melius began coverage on shares of Sysco in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. They set a “hold” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Four investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 56,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,335,408. This represents a 46.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Sysco Price Performance

Shares of SYY opened at $72.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $35.37 billion, a PE ratio of 18.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.20. Sysco Co. has a fifty-two week low of $69.03 and a fifty-two week high of $82.33. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.44.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 firm earned $0.89 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.44%.

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.