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

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of 1.50 per share by the restaurant operator on Monday, February 2nd. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th.

Darden Restaurants has raised its dividend by an average of 0.2%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 4 years. Darden Restaurants has a payout ratio of 52.1% 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 $6.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.4%.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.7%

DRI stock opened at $192.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $180.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $198.14. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.40.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.09 by ($0.01). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 52.35%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Barclays decreased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $255.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.39.

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.