Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.29

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, June 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a dividend of 1.29 per share by the restaurant operator on Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%.

Darden Restaurants has increased its dividend by an average of 62.3% per year over the last three years. Darden Restaurants has a dividend payout ratio of 49.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Darden Restaurants to earn $9.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.0%.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.5 %

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $154.29 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $133.36 and a 52 week high of $176.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $150.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $159.69.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The restaurant operator reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.01). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.94% and a net margin of 9.24%. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.02 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.34 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.81.

Darden Restaurants announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 21st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 7,673 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $1,270,034.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,848,268.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 7,673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $1,270,034.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,208 shares in the company, valued at $2,848,268.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $734,998.05. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,994,800.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,599 shares of company stock valued at $2,197,891 over the last 90 days. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V's Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.