Investors Purchase High Volume of Sysco Call Options (NYSE:SYY)

Sysco Corporation (NYSE:SYY) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 7,910 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 185% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,775 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sysco news, EVP Ronald L. Phillips sold 961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total value of $77,841.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 41,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,361,581. This trade represents a 2.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sysco in the second quarter worth $493,686,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Sysco by 3,977.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,711,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,935,000 after purchasing an additional 4,595,819 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Sysco by 24.8% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 15,199,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,139,798,000 after buying an additional 3,015,714 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD bought a new stake in shares of Sysco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $142,237,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Sysco by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,691,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,748,230,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226,381 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on SYY. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Sysco from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Sysco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Sysco from $86.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Sysco in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $83.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $88.00 target price on shares of Sysco in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.00.

Sysco Price Performance

Sysco stock traded down $1.77 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $74.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,762,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,224,163. Sysco has a 12 month low of $67.12 and a 12 month high of $83.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.54. The company has a market capitalization of $35.50 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $77.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.64.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Sysco had a net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 112.04%. The business had revenue of $21.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sysco has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.500-4.600 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Sysco 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, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio is 57.91%.

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.