Swedbank AB Trims Holdings in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Swedbank AB cut its position in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,009,020 shares of the company’s stock after selling 193,787 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Sysco were worth $156,824,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Sysco by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 7,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC increased its position in Sysco by 60.0% in the 4th quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 7,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $543,000 after buying an additional 2,786 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC increased its position in Sysco by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 7,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 1,464 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Sysco by 52.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 2,784 shares during the period. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sysco during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $123,000. 83.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Sysco from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Sysco from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Sysco from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Sysco from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Sysco from $91.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.08.

Sysco Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SYY traded up $0.35 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $75.57. The company had a trading volume of 2,564,699 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,157,200. The company has a fifty day moving average of $76.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.20. Sysco Co. has a 12 month low of $63.18 and a 12 month high of $82.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.19.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $20.56 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.44%.

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.