Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI) To Go Ex-Dividend on October 10th

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 19th, Zacks reports. Investors 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 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 increased its dividend by an average of 62.3% annually over the last three years. Darden Restaurants has a payout ratio of 53.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 50 day moving average of $150.34 and a 200-day moving average of $153.52. The company has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Darden Restaurants has a 12-month low of $133.36 and a 12-month high of $176.84.

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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.28.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, 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 company 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.