Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) Receives $83.00 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $83.00.

SYY has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Sysco from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup started coverage on Sysco in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $78.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $87.00 price objective on Sysco and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Sysco from $87.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th.

Sysco Price Performance

NYSE:SYY opened at $74.56 on Wednesday. Sysco has a 52 week low of $67.12 and a 52 week high of $82.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66. The company has a market capitalization of $36.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $71.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.71.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.06). Sysco had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 106.30%. The business had revenue of $19.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.96 EPS. Sysco’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Sysco will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This is an increase from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio is 55.96%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Sheila Talton sold 356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.84, for a total value of $25,219.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $902,359.92. This represents a 2.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sysco

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,519,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,703,775,000 after buying an additional 429,711 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Sysco by 1.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,070,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,280,970,000 after buying an additional 162,961 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in Sysco by 24.8% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 15,199,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,139,798,000 after buying an additional 3,015,714 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Sysco by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,868,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $905,120,000 after buying an additional 233,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Sysco by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,991,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $687,488,000 after buying an additional 1,928,002 shares in the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.