Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Announces Dividend Increase – $1.40 Per Share

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

Darden Restaurants has increased its dividend payment by an average of 62.3% per year over the last three years. Darden Restaurants has a dividend payout ratio of 53.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Up 8.3 %

NYSE DRI opened at $172.27 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $149.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.39. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $133.36 and a fifty-two week high of $176.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $20.56 billion, a PE ratio of 20.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Argus lowered their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday. Bank of America increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, June 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

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

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.