Unigestion Holding SA Buys 4,393 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

Unigestion Holding SA boosted its stake in Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY - Free Report) by 45.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,006 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,393 shares during the quarter. Unigestion Holding SA's holdings in Sysco were worth $1,051,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Sysco by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,519,424 shares of the company's stock worth $4,703,775,000 after acquiring an additional 429,711 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Sysco by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,907,541 shares of the company's stock worth $1,292,751,000 after purchasing an additional 851,441 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Sysco by 143.7% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,184,114 shares of the company's stock worth $930,296,000 after acquiring an additional 7,184,754 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Sysco by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,868,965 shares of the company's stock worth $905,120,000 after buying an additional 233,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Sysco by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,991,476 shares of the company's stock worth $687,488,000 after buying an additional 1,928,002 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SYY has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $87.00 price target on shares of Sysco and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Sysco from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Sysco from $86.00 to $83.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Sysco from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Sysco in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $78.00 price target for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sysco currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $83.00.

Sysco Stock Performance

Shares of SYY traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $73.73. 3,008,866 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,327,673. Sysco Co. has a twelve month low of $67.12 and a twelve month high of $82.23. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $71.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.72. The company has a market cap of $35.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.95, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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). Sysco had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 106.30%. The company had revenue of $19.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.96 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Sysco Co. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Sysco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This is an increase from Sysco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. Sysco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sysco

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

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.