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

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 19th, Zacks reports. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29.

Darden Restaurants has raised its dividend 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. Research 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

DRI stock opened at $170.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.38. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $133.36 and a 1 year high of $176.84. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.52.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total value of $2,344,283.46. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares in the company, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly 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 currently 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.