Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 583,597 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. trimmed its position in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY - Free Report) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,608,015 shares of the company's stock after selling 583,597 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 1.35% of Sysco worth $505,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Sysco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Sysco in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Sherman Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sysco during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Sysco in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Sysco by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 430 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. 83.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sysco news, Director Sheila Talton sold 356 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.84, for a total value of $25,219.04. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,738 shares in the company, valued at $902,359.92. This represents a 2.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Sysco Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:SYY traded down $0.83 on Friday, hitting $70.77. 2,400,998 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,361,300. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $72.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.13. Sysco Co. has a 52 week low of $67.12 and a 52 week high of $82.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $34.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.80.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $19.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.11 billion. Sysco had a return on equity of 106.30% and a net margin of 2.40%. The business's revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. This is an increase from Sysco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Sysco's payout ratio is presently 55.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on SYY shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Sysco from $79.00 to $77.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Sysco from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Sysco and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Sysco from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Sysco in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $83.38.

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.