Flputnam Investment Management Co. Sells 1,063 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. reduced its holdings in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,313 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,063 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Sysco were worth $462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Sysco by 11.0% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Sysco by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,909,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $686,254,000 after buying an additional 161,756 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Sysco by 70,686.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,967,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $532,666,000 after buying an additional 6,957,665 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Sysco by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,819,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,318,000 after purchasing an additional 310,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Sysco by 34.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,459,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $493,859,000 after purchasing an additional 1,666,008 shares during the period. 83.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $137,760.00. Following the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sysco Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SYY opened at $75.44 on Thursday. Sysco Co. has a twelve month low of $62.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The firm has a market cap of $37.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.44, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50 day moving average of $79.52 and a 200 day moving average of $74.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.00.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.01. Sysco had a net margin of 2.69% and a return on equity of 105.22%. The company had revenue of $19.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Sysco Co. will post 4.3 EPS 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 issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Sysco’s payout ratio is 48.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on SYY shares. Barclays raised their price objective on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company 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 report on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently 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.