Olstein Capital Management L.P. Purchases 17,000 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 29.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 75,000 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,000 shares during the quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Sysco were worth $5,628,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,519,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,703,775,000 after acquiring an additional 429,711 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Sysco by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,907,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,292,751,000 after acquiring an additional 851,441 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Sysco by 143.7% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,184,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $930,296,000 after acquiring an additional 7,184,754 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Sysco by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,868,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $905,120,000 after purchasing an additional 233,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Sysco by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,991,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $687,488,000 after buying an additional 1,928,002 shares during the period. 83.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $87.00 price objective on Sysco and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Sysco from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Sysco from $87.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.00.

Sysco Price Performance

Shares of SYY opened at $74.56 on Monday. Sysco Co. has a twelve month low of $67.12 and a twelve month high of $82.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $71.67 and a 200 day moving average of $73.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66. The company has a market capitalization of $36.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.81.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $19.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.11 billion. Sysco had a return on equity of 106.30% and a net margin of 2.40%. Sysco’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This is an increase from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio is 55.96%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sheila Talton sold 356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.84, for a total value of $25,219.04. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,738 shares in the company, valued at $902,359.92. This trade represents a 2.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.