Boston Trust Walden Corp Raises Position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 179.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 804,345 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 516,585 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in Sysco were worth $61,500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 15.6% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,237,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,562,000 after buying an additional 166,798 shares during the period. New England Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Sysco by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. New England Asset Management Inc. now owns 131,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,254,000 after acquiring an additional 14,810 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Sysco by 29.0% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 78,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,115,000 after purchasing an additional 17,587 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $521,874,000 after purchasing an additional 672,940 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased 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 worth $9,706,000 after purchasing an additional 8,891 shares in the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SYY. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Sysco in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Sysco from $87.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Sysco from $93.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 6,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $519,920.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,876,080. This represents a 11.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of Sysco stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 56,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,335,408. The trade was a 46.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 79,270 shares of company stock valued at $6,181,946 in the last ninety days. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Sysco Trading Down 0.7 %

SYY opened at $72.79 on Monday. Sysco Co. has a 12 month low of $69.03 and a 12 month high of $82.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $76.30 and a 200 day moving average of $76.02. The firm has a market cap of $35.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.18.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 106.30% and a net margin of 2.40%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. 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.