Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Announces Dividend Increase – $1.50 Per Share

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, June 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of 1.50 per share by the restaurant operator on Friday, August 1st. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. This is a 7.1% increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40.

Darden Restaurants has a dividend payout ratio of 48.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Darden Restaurants to earn $10.64 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 52.6%.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI opened at $226.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.49, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a fifty day moving average of $208.33 and a 200 day moving average of $195.96. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.39.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.96 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 50.68%. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, June 20th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 3.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DRI shares. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.35.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. The trade was a 25.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.