Disciplined Equity Management Inc. Invests $76,000 in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Disciplined Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 1,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Trian Fund Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Sysco in the third quarter valued at approximately $80,812,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Sysco by 11.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,859,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,283,000 after acquiring an additional 1,076,287 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $50,462,000 after acquiring an additional 719,054 shares in the last quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $31,102,000 after acquiring an additional 458,401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL bought a new position in shares of Sysco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,976,000. 83.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $137,760.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now 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 available at this link. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sysco Stock Performance

Shares of Sysco stock traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $77.29. The company had a trading volume of 1,765,214 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,901,943. Sysco Co. has a one year low of $62.24 and a one year high of $82.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.00, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $38.48 billion, a PE ratio of 18.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.15.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.01. Sysco had a return on equity of 105.22% and a net margin of 2.69%. The company had revenue of $19.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on SYY. StockNews.com lowered Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stephens increased their price objective on Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Sysco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.38.

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.