Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) to Issue $0.51 Quarterly Dividend

Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of 0.51 per share on Friday, April 25th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th.

Sysco has raised its dividend by an average of 3.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 56 consecutive years. Sysco has a dividend payout ratio of 41.1% meaning 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 Stock Performance

SYY stock opened at $75.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market cap of $36.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.65. Sysco has a 52 week low of $69.03 and a 52 week high of $82.33.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.93. Sysco had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 106.30%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Sysco will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 48,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total transaction of $3,698,079.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 56,304 shares in the company, valued at $4,335,408. This represents a 46.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 6,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $519,920.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,876,080. This represents a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 76,370 shares of company stock valued at $5,965,519 in the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Sysco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Sysco from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Sysco from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sysco currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.77.

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.