Sysco (NYSE:SYY) Downgraded to “Buy” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sysco (NYSE:SYY) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on SYY. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Sysco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Melius assumed coverage on Sysco in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. They set a “hold” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Sysco to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.79.

Sysco Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of SYY stock opened at $76.83 on Monday. Sysco has a 1 year low of $69.03 and a 1 year high of $82.89. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.38, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.75, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.18.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $20.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.47 billion. Sysco had a return on equity of 101.04% and a net margin of 2.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sysco will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sheila Talton sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $216,427.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $966,831.65. This represents a 18.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 4,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.10, for a total transaction of $303,103.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,638,670.10. The trade was a 7.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 83,306 shares of company stock valued at $6,485,050 in the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SYY. 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 in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Sysco by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,685,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,874,000 after acquiring an additional 672,940 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in Sysco by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,796,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,410,000 after acquiring an additional 422,954 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Sysco by 4.1% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,265,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $332,983,000 after purchasing an additional 168,163 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Sysco Company 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.