Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Increases Dividend to $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 3.52%. 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 increased its dividend by an average of 62.3% annually over the last three years. Darden Restaurants has a dividend payout ratio of 53.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Darden Restaurants to earn $10.48 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 53.4%.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:DRI opened at $159.13 on Wednesday. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $133.36 and a 52 week high of $176.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $156.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $152.66. The stock has a market cap of $18.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results 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). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Argus dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,075,040.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,075,040.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 77,706 shares of company stock valued at $12,813,038 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

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.