Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Has $13.79 Million Stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 193,106 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,567 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Sysco were worth $13,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Sysco by 17.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,984,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $891,758,000 after purchasing an additional 1,637,232 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Sysco by 112.8% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,612,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $536,770,000 after purchasing an additional 3,504,740 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Sysco during the fourth quarter worth approximately $450,794,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Sysco by 132.9% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,653,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,084,501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Sysco by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,036,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,029,000 after purchasing an additional 240,671 shares in the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SYY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Sysco from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Guggenheim raised shares of Sysco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Sysco from $90.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.27.

Sysco Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SYY traded up $0.42 during trading on Friday, hitting $79.40. 156,366 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,043,722. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.19. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $74.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.84. Sysco Co. has a 52 week low of $62.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The company has a market cap of $39.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.20.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $20.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.51 billion. Sysco had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 102.09%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Sysco’s payout ratio is presently 49.76%.

Sysco Company 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.