Berkeley Capital Partners LLC Invests $1.32 Million in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Berkeley Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 17,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,321,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in Sysco by 11.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,294,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,130,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,721,449 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in Sysco by 143.7% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,184,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $930,296,000 after purchasing an additional 7,184,754 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Sysco by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,206,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $551,046,000 after purchasing an additional 521,431 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in Sysco by 9.7% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,796,439 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,410,000 after purchasing an additional 422,954 shares during the period. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its position in Sysco by 8.5% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 4,790,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,789,000 after purchasing an additional 375,409 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SYY shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Sysco from $79.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Sysco to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Sysco from $93.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Sysco from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.77.

Insider Activity at Sysco

In related news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total transaction of $3,698,079.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,335,408. This trade represents a 46.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sysco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SYY opened at $72.30 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $73.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.68. 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. Sysco Co. has a 1 year low of $69.03 and a 1 year high of $82.33.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 earned $0.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. Sysco’s payout ratio is 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.