Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $1.50

Key Points

• Darden Restaurants, Inc. declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with stockholders of record on October 10th receiving this payment on November 3rd, yielding an annualized 2.9%.
• The company's current payout ratio is 48.6%, indicating strong earnings coverage for the dividend, with expected earnings per share (EPS) of $10.64 for the next year.
• Darden's stock opened at $208.81, and although it has a market capitalization of $24.35 billion, shares are down by 0.6% recently; the company also reported a 10.6% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 18th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of 1.50 per share by the restaurant operator on Monday, November 3rd. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th.

Darden Restaurants has a payout ratio of 48.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 traded down $0.56 during trading on Monday, reaching $184.17. 787,668 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,322,670. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $155.18 and a 1-year high of $228.27. The company's fifty day moving average price is $206.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.24. The firm has a market cap of $21.47 billion, a PE ratio of 19.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.71.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.04). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.35% and a net margin of 8.90%.The business had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.75 EPS. The company's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Darden Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Darden Restaurants from $215.00 to $205.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $255.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Darden Restaurants from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $225.96.

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.