Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 5,781 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 9.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 68,097 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,781 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Sysco were worth $5,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First United Bank & Trust bought a new position in Sysco during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Verity & Verity LLC purchased a new position in Sysco in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its holdings in Sysco by 74.0% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Burkett Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sysco during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Sysco in the first quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SYY. Barclays decreased their price objective on Sysco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Sysco from $90.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Sysco from $84.00 to $82.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Sysco from $87.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.90.

Sysco Price Performance

SYY traded down $0.40 during trading on Friday, reaching $69.65. The stock had a trading volume of 1,106,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,151,036. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.34. The business has a 50-day moving average of $73.38 and a 200-day moving average of $76.27. Sysco Co. has a one year low of $62.24 and a one year high of $82.89. The stock has a market cap of $34.68 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.18.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $19.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.74 billion. Sysco had a return on equity of 99.88% and a net margin of 2.66%. Sysco’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. This is a boost from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio is 48.78%.

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.