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

Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd.

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 56 years. Sysco has a dividend payout ratio of 44.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Sysco stock traded down $1.36 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $74.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,811,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,150,721. Sysco has a 52-week low of $69.03 and a 52-week high of $82.89. The company has a market cap of $36.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.23, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $75.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.38.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.04). Sysco had a return on equity of 101.04% and a net margin of 2.44%. The business had revenue of $20.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.07 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sysco will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Sysco

In other Sysco news, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 4,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.10, for a total value of $303,103.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at $3,638,670.10. This represents a 7.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.