Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Increases Dividend to $1.40 Per Share

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 19th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of 1.40 per share by the restaurant operator on Friday, November 1st. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29.

Darden Restaurants has increased its dividend payment by an average of 62.3% annually over the last three years. Darden Restaurants has a dividend payout ratio of 53.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Darden Restaurants to earn $10.41 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.8%.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $172.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $133.36 and a 52 week high of $176.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $149.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.39.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,649,483.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $177.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Bank of America increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Darden Restaurants from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.87.

About Darden Restaurants

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.