Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) Raises Dividend to $0.51 Per Share

Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid 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 boost from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Sysco has raised 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 55 years. Sysco has a payout ratio of 42.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SYY remained flat at $77.07 during midday trading on Friday. 2,072,280 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,339,761. 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 has a 12-month low of $62.24 and a 12-month high of $82.89. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.78. The firm has a market cap of $38.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.15.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last posted 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. Sysco had a net margin of 2.69% and a return on equity of 105.22%. The firm had revenue of $19.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sysco will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SYY. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Sysco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sysco currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sysco

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