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

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 19th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of 1.40 per share by the restaurant operator on Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th.

Darden Restaurants has raised its dividend by an average of 62.3% per year over the last three years. Darden Restaurants has a dividend payout ratio of 53.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Darden Restaurants to earn $10.55 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 53.1%.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI traded up $23.57 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $183.44. 4,765,794 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,242,947. The stock has a market cap of $21.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $166.25 and a 200-day moving average of $156.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $188.82.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. Darden Restaurants's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on DRI. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. BTIG Research upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Darden Restaurants from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $180.46.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,601 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. The trade was a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total value of $542,587.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,005,911.65. This trade represents a 35.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030 over the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.