abrdn plc Boosts Holdings in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 70.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 213,018 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 88,211 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Sysco were worth $15,578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Trian Fund Management L.P. acquired a new position in Sysco in the third quarter valued at $80,812,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Sysco by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,859,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $717,283,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076,287 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Sysco by 1,591.5% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 764,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,462,000 after purchasing an additional 719,054 shares in the last quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Sysco by 3,671.0% in the third quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 470,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,102,000 after buying an additional 458,401 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL acquired a new position in Sysco during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,976,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Sysco Stock Performance

SYY stock opened at $77.29 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $38.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.67. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $62.24 and a 12-month high of $82.89.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sysco Co. will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Transactions at Sysco

In other Sysco news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $137,760.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,926,560. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.