River Road Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

River Road Asset Management LLC decreased its position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY - Free Report) by 15.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,446 shares of the company's stock after selling 17,366 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC's holdings in Sysco were worth $7,068,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SYY. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sysco during the third quarter worth $26,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in Sysco during the third quarter worth $31,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sysco in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Sherman Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Sysco during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 53.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 430 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Sysco

In other Sysco news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of Sysco stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total value of $3,698,079.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,304 shares in the company, valued at $4,335,408. The trade was a 46.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SYY shares. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Sysco in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com raised Sysco from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Sysco from $79.00 to $77.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $84.77.

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Sysco Stock Performance

Shares of Sysco stock opened at $74.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $36.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.11. Sysco Co. has a 1 year low of $69.03 and a 1 year high of $82.33. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $73.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.20.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company posted $0.89 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Sysco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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