Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 284 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,648 shares of the company’s stock after selling 284 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Sysco were worth $194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SYY. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in Sysco by 74.0% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Sysco by 74.6% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in Sysco in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management bought a new position in Sysco in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Sysco in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sysco

In related news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 24,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,926,560. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sysco Price Performance

Shares of SYY opened at $75.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $37.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.54, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. Sysco Co. has a 1-year low of $62.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.00.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.01. Sysco had a net margin of 2.69% and a return on equity of 105.22%. The firm had revenue of $19.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.3 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 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Sysco 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.