First Horizon Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,776 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,407 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Sysco were worth $934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SYY. Trian Fund Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Sysco in the third quarter worth $80,812,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Sysco by 11.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,859,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $717,283,000 after buying an additional 1,076,287 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Sysco by 1,591.5% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 764,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,462,000 after buying an additional 719,054 shares in the last quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Sysco by 3,671.0% in the third quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 470,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,102,000 after buying an additional 458,401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL bought a new position in Sysco in the fourth quarter valued at $32,976,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Sysco Stock Performance

Sysco stock opened at $75.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $78.65 and a 200-day moving average of $75.16. The firm has a market cap of $37.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.16. Sysco Co. has a 1-year low of $62.24 and a 1-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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $19.38 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Sysco Co. will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.78%.

Insider Transactions at Sysco

In other Sysco news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $137,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,082 shares in the company, valued at $1,926,560. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Sysco from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Sysco from $91.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Stephens increased their target price on Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.56.

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.