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

Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid 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 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd.

Sysco has increased its dividend 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 payout ratio of 44.6% meaning 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 Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:SYY traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $74.15. 115,632 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,140,934. The stock has a market cap of $36.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $75.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.75. Sysco has a 12-month low of $69.03 and a 12-month high of $82.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.38.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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