VeraBank N.A. Invests $204,000 in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

VeraBank N.A. acquired a new stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SYY. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its position in Sysco by 263.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 34,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,246,000 after buying an additional 24,650 shares in the last quarter. Professional Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Sysco in the 4th quarter valued at $20,057,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co acquired a new stake in Sysco during the 4th quarter valued at $4,623,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Sysco by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 82,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,014,000 after purchasing an additional 23,558 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Sysco by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 298,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,865,000 after purchasing an additional 41,618 shares during the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sysco

In other 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,926,560. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Sysco Price Performance

SYY stock traded up $1.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $75.36. The stock had a trading volume of 2,709,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,778,819. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.77. Sysco Co. has a 52 week low of $62.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.01. Sysco had a net margin of 2.66% and a return on equity of 99.88%. The business had revenue of $19.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This is a positive change from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Sysco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Sysco from $91.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Sysco from $92.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.56.

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.