Victory Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 31.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,328,371 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,527,721 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.66% of Sysco worth $243,404,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its position in Sysco by 263.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 34,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,246,000 after purchasing an additional 24,650 shares during the period. Professional Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Sysco during the 4th quarter valued at $20,057,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co bought a new stake in shares of Sysco during the 4th quarter valued at $4,623,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 82,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,014,000 after buying an additional 23,558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 298,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,865,000 after buying an additional 41,618 shares in the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sysco

In other Sysco news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,926,560. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Sysco Price Performance

NYSE SYY opened at $73.04 on Thursday. Sysco Co. has a 12 month low of $62.24 and a 12 month high of $82.89. The stock has a market cap of $36.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.81, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50 day moving average is $78.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.77.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.01. Sysco had a net margin of 2.66% and a return on equity of 99.88%. The company had revenue of $19.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This is a positive change from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on SYY. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Sysco from $92.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sysco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.90.

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.