Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA Sells 4,400 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA lowered its holdings in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 24.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,920 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,400 shares during the period. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA’s holdings in Sysco were worth $1,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB raised its position in shares of Sysco by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 21,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,674,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Sysco by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $535,000 after buying an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. Flavin Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sysco in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $427,000. Patron Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Sysco by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 11,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $872,000 after buying an additional 806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC raised its position in shares of Sysco by 261.5% in the 4th quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 94,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,200,000 after buying an additional 68,123 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Sysco Stock Performance

SYY opened at $70.80 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $76.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.02. Sysco Co. has a 1-year low of $69.03 and a 1-year high of $82.33. The company has a market cap of $34.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.18, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.18.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.93. Sysco had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 106.30%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SYY has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Sysco from $79.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Sysco in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Sysco to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sysco news, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 6,499 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $519,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at $3,876,080. This trade represents a 11.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total transaction of $3,698,079.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 56,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,335,408. This represents a 46.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 79,270 shares of company stock worth $6,181,946. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

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.