Darden Restaurants, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.40 (NYSE:DRI)

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 20th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of 1.40 per share by the restaurant operator on Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%.

Darden Restaurants has raised its dividend by an average of 9.7% per year over the last three years. Darden Restaurants has a payout ratio of 48.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 stock opened at $188.11 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $203.12. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $191.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.15.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.82 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total transaction of $2,888,762.49. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.33.

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.