Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV Sells 371 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV reduced its stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,088 shares of the company’s stock after selling 371 shares during the period. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Sysco were worth $771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Sysco by 11.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,294,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,130,617,000 after acquiring an additional 2,721,449 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in Sysco by 103.0% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 4,746,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,830,000 after purchasing an additional 2,408,226 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Sysco by 49.8% during the 2nd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,012,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $429,240,000 after purchasing an additional 1,997,895 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Sysco by 26.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,623,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $615,076,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in Sysco during the third quarter worth $137,900,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sysco

In other Sysco news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 56,304 shares in the company, valued at $4,335,408. This represents a 46.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sheila Talton sold 2,900 shares of Sysco stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $216,427.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $966,831.65. This trade represents a 18.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 83,306 shares of company stock valued at $6,485,050 over the last three months. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Sysco from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Sysco from $87.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Sysco to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.93.

Sysco Stock Performance

NYSE SYY opened at $74.80 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $36.74 billion, a PE ratio of 19.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.38, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.26. Sysco Co. has a 52-week low of $69.03 and a 52-week high of $82.89. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.73.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.04). Sysco had a return on equity of 101.04% and a net margin of 2.44%. The company had revenue of $20.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.07 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Sysco Co. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Sysco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.44%.

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.