Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) to Issue Dividend Increase – $1.62 Per Share

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of 1.62 per share by the restaurant operator on Monday, August 3rd. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. This is a 8.0% increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50.

Darden Restaurants has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.2%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. Darden Restaurants has a dividend payout ratio of 52.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Darden Restaurants to earn $11.38 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.7%.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $212.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $201.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $200.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.36 billion, a PE ratio of 22.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $222.56.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.98 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Evercore lowered Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.33.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.