Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) Shares Sold by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC lessened its stake in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 105,477 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,184 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Sysco were worth $7,714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SYY. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 11.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,859,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,283,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076,287 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Sysco by 3.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,138,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,435,000 after acquiring an additional 178,464 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sysco by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,738,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,907,000 after acquiring an additional 21,700 shares in the last quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Sysco by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,320,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,240,000 after purchasing an additional 9,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in Sysco by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,158,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,552,000 after purchasing an additional 45,505 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on SYY. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Sysco from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Sysco from $91.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Sysco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Sysco from $92.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.56.

Sysco Stock Performance

Shares of SYY stock traded up $0.36 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $75.84. The company had a trading volume of 3,333,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,970,474. The company has a market capitalization of $37.77 billion, a PE ratio of 18.50, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.77, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.45. Sysco Co. has a one year low of $62.24 and a one year high of $82.89.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $19.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.74 billion. Sysco had a net margin of 2.66% and a return on equity of 99.88%. Sysco’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a $0.51 dividend. This is an increase from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. Sysco’s payout ratio is currently 48.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $137,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,926,560. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.