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

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

Darden Restaurants has increased its dividend by an average of 62.3% per year over the last three years. Darden Restaurants has a payout ratio of 53.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Trading Up 14.7 %

DRI opened at $183.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $166.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $156.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $188.82.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. The trade was a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.00, for a total value of $286,552.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $917,448. This trade represents a 23.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on DRI. Citigroup cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.46.

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.