Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Has $5 Million Position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 65,394 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,211 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Sysco were worth $5,000,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sysco during the 2nd quarter worth about $257,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Sysco by 12.7% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,913,000 after buying an additional 3,022 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Sysco by 10.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,701,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $264,262,000 after acquiring an additional 359,640 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Sysco by 39.2% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 160,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,435,000 after acquiring an additional 45,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in shares of Sysco by 1,013.0% during the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 67,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,788,000 after purchasing an additional 61,044 shares during the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SYY shares. Melius Research raised shares of Sysco to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Sysco from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Melius initiated coverage on shares of Sysco in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. They set a “hold” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sysco

In other news, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 4,036 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,638,670.10. This trade represents a 7.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Sheila Talton sold 2,900 shares of the business’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 directly owns 12,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $966,831.65. The trade was a 18.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 83,306 shares of company stock valued at $6,485,050 in the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sysco Stock Performance

Shares of Sysco stock opened at $74.00 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $36.35 billion, a PE ratio of 19.02, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.18. Sysco Co. has a 12 month low of $69.03 and a 12 month high of $82.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.38.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.04). Sysco had a return on equity of 101.04% and a net margin of 2.44%. The company had revenue of $20.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Sysco Co. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.44%.

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.