Yahoo Finance Is It Smart To Buy Sysco Corporation (NYSE:SYY) Before It Goes Ex-Dividend?
Sysco Corporation (NYSE:SYY) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. You can purchase shares before the 2nd of April in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 24th of April.
Sysco's next dividend payment will be US$0.45 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$1.80 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that Sysco has a trailing yield of 3.6% on the current share price of $50.45. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Sysco's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
See our latest analysis for Sysco
Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. Sysco paid out a comfortable 46% of its profit last year. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether Sysco generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. Over the last year it paid out 57% of its free cash flow as dividends, within the usual range for most companies.
It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. For this reason, we're glad to see Sysco's earnings per share have risen 17% per annum over the last five years. Sysco is paying out a bit over half its earnings, which suggests the company is striking a balance between reinvesting in growth, and paying dividends. This is a reasonable combination that could hint at some further dividend increases in the future.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Since the start of our data, ten years ago, Sysco has lifted its dividend by approximately 6.5% a year on average. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.
To Sum It Up
From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Sysco? Earnings per share have grown at a nice rate in recent times and over the last year, Sysco paid out less than half its earnings and a bit over half its free cash flow. Overall we think this is an attractive combination and worthy of further research.
With that in mind, a critical part of thorough stock research is being aware of any risks that stock currently faces. For example, we've found 2 warning signs for Sysco that we recommend you consider before investing in the business.
A common investment mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a list of promising dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.
