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 yield of 3.52%. 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 by an average of 62.3% annually over the last three years. Darden Restaurants has a dividend payout ratio of 53.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Price Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $159.13 on Wednesday. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $133.36 and a 12 month high of $176.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $156.07 and its 200-day moving average is $152.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization 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 quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.48 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on DRI. Jefferies Financial Group cut Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total transaction of $981,488.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $659,601.36. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other 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 owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,483.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total transaction of $981,488.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $659,601.36. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,706 shares of company stock valued at $12,813,038 in the last 90 days. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.