Darden Restaurants hikes dividend by 17.3%
Darden Restaurants (DRI) will raise its quarterly dividend by 17.3 percent to $0.88 per share in 2019. This follows a 12 cent per share dividend hike to $0.75 quarterly by the Olive Garden's owner last year.
The next quarterly dividend is payable on August 1, 2019 to shareholders of record on July 10, 2019. The new annual dividend of $3.52 per share translates into a yield of 2.9% at the current stock price of $121.23 for Darden.
"We generated $1.3 billion in operating cash flow in fiscal 2019, which was sufficient to invest in growth, return capital to our shareholders, and strengthen our balance sheet," said CFO Rick Cardenas. "We returned $578 million to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases this year. The strength and durability of our cash flows is evident in the fact that, over the past four years, we've generated $4 billion in operating cash flow and returned more than $2 billion to investors."
Darden Restaurants, Inc. is a full-service restaurant company with operations in the United States and Canada. Its brands include Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze and Eddie V's. Darden Restaurants is a Florida corporation incorporated in March 1995.
The next quarterly dividend is payable on August 1, 2019 to shareholders of record on July 10, 2019. The new annual dividend of $3.52 per share translates into a yield of 2.9% at the current stock price of $121.23 for Darden.
"We generated $1.3 billion in operating cash flow in fiscal 2019, which was sufficient to invest in growth, return capital to our shareholders, and strengthen our balance sheet," said CFO Rick Cardenas. "We returned $578 million to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases this year. The strength and durability of our cash flows is evident in the fact that, over the past four years, we've generated $4 billion in operating cash flow and returned more than $2 billion to investors."
Darden Restaurants, Inc. is a full-service restaurant company with operations in the United States and Canada. Its brands include Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze and Eddie V's. Darden Restaurants is a Florida corporation incorporated in March 1995.