Howe & Rusling Inc. Buys Shares of 2,904 Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Howe & Rusling Inc. purchased a new position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Sysco by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,519,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,703,775,000 after buying an additional 429,711 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted 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. Boston Partners grew its stake in Sysco by 143.7% in 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 last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Sysco by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,206,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $551,046,000 after purchasing an additional 521,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Sysco by 4.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,265,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $332,983,000 after buying an additional 168,163 shares during the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SYY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Sysco from $93.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Sysco in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Sysco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Sysco to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sysco has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.77.

Insider Activity at Sysco

In other news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the 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 directly owns 56,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,335,408. This represents a 46.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Sysco Stock Up 1.7 %

SYY stock opened at $73.99 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $36.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.11. Sysco Co. has a 12 month low of $69.03 and a 12 month high of $82.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 EPS 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 period last year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.