Sysco Co. (SYY) To Go Ex-Dividend on July 5th

Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This is a positive change from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Sysco has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 55 consecutive years. Sysco has a dividend 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 SYY remained flat at $77.07 during trading hours on Friday. The stock had a trading volume of 2,072,280 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,339,761. The company 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. 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 52 week low of $62.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.78.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced 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 return on equity of 105.22% and a net margin of 2.69%. The business had revenue of $19.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Sysco will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Sysco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com cut Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Stephens increased their price target on Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sysco currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.38.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $137,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,926,560. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.