Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.51 Per Share

Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of 0.51 per share on Friday, July 26th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This is a positive change from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Sysco has raised its dividend by an average of 3.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 55 consecutive years. Sysco has a payout ratio of 42.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Sysco to earn $4.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.7%.

Sysco Stock Performance

NYSE SYY opened at $77.07 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $38.37 billion, a PE ratio of 18.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.78. Sysco has a 1-year low of $62.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.00, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $19.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.32 billion. Sysco had a return on equity of 105.22% and a net margin of 2.69%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sysco will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stephens lifted their price objective on Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Sysco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sysco news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $137,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,926,560. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.