Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.51

Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.51 per share on Friday, January 24th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd.

Sysco has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 56 years. Sysco has a dividend payout ratio of 44.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Sysco to earn $4.94 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.3%.

Sysco Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SYY traded down $0.25 on Wednesday, hitting $74.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 115,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,140,934. Sysco has a 1 year low of $69.03 and a 1 year high of $82.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.38, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $36.42 billion, a PE ratio of 19.13, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.75.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its 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 net margin of 2.44% and a return on equity of 101.04%. The company had revenue of $20.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sysco will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Sysco

In related news, Director Sheila Talton sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $216,427.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $966,831.65. This trade represents a 18.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 4,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.10, for a total transaction of $303,103.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,638,670.10. The trade was a 7.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Sysco from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Sysco from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Sysco from $87.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.77.

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.