Darden Restaurants, the owner of Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, will pay a quarterly dividend of $1.62 a share on Nov. 2 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Oct. 9. The board declared the payment on Sept. 24 alongside the company’s fiscal 2027 first-quarter results. Darden also reaffirmed its full-year outlook for diluted earnings per share of $11.10 to $11.35.
The declaration sets a record date of Oct. 9 and a payment date of Nov. 2
The wording comes from Darden’s first-quarter earnings release on PR Newswire and from its copy on Nasdaq: Darden’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.62 per share on the company’s outstanding common stock, payable on Nov. 2, 2026 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Oct. 9, 2026. Only holders on the record date receive the payment.
The dividend equals $6.48 a year if four payments at that rate are made, an annualized figure that MarketBeat also lists. MarketBeat gives Oct. 9 as the ex-dividend date, a payout ratio of 56.3% and a yield of about 3.1% at a share price of $196.79. Those market-data figures are the aggregator’s calculations, not Darden’s.
The $1.62 rate is an 8% raise from June
Darden’s fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter release, dated June 25, raised the quarterly dividend to $1.62 a share from $1.50, an 8.0% increase, with the first payment at the new rate on Aug. 3, 2026. The Nov. 2 payment is therefore the second at $1.62. On an annual basis the raise lifts the payout from $6.00 to $6.48, an extra $0.48 a share, by arithmetic on the two quarterly amounts.
The June release also approved a new $1.5 billion share repurchase program with no expiration date, replacing the previous authorization, and reported fiscal 2026 sales of $13.21 billion, up 9.4%, and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $10.44. Chief Executive Rick Cardenas described the year as “one in which we significantly outperformed the industry.”
What the quarter behind the dividend looked like
Darden reported first-quarter sales of $3.2 billion, up 5.1%, and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $2.05, up 4.1%. Same-restaurant sales rose 3.1% for the company as a whole, with LongHorn Steakhouse up 6.2%, Olive Garden up 1.1% and Fine Dining up 1.6%. Chief Executive Rick Cardenas said, “The first quarter was a solid start to our fiscal year with each of our segments delivering positive same-restaurant sales.”
The Nasdaq copy of the release shows Olive Garden sales of $1,329.8 million, up 2.2%, and segment profit of $270.8 million, up 1.2%. Darden counted 2,218 company-owned restaurants, 953 of them Olive Garden and 624 LongHorn.
The payout against the earnings outlook
Set against the reaffirmed guidance, the $6.48 annualized dividend represents about 58% of the low end of the $11.10 to $11.35 range and about 57% of the high end. Those ratios are arithmetic on Darden’s published figures and differ slightly from MarketBeat’s 56.3%. A declared dividend covers only the payment described. The June release that set the outlook also projected fiscal 2027 total sales of $13.60 billion to $13.75 billion, same-restaurant sales growth of 2.5% to 3.5% and 75 to 80 new restaurants, so the first quarter’s 3.1% same-restaurant sales gain sits inside the yearly range.
Repurchases run alongside the dividend
Dividends are not the only way Darden returns cash. The release reports that the company repurchased $222.3 million of its stock, or 1.1 million shares, in the first quarter, and that $1.3 billion remained of a $1.5 billion authorization. Capital expenditures in the quarter were $175.3 million, and the effective tax rate was 12.9%.
Menu prices are the backdrop for restaurant sales
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Price Outlook, released Sept. 25, forecasts food away from home up 3.5% in 2026 and 2.6% in 2027. The same summary reports that food away from home was 3.4% higher in August than a year earlier, and that forecasts are built from statistical models fitted to recent trends. Against those forecasts, Olive Garden’s first-quarter same-restaurant sales gain of 1.1% is smaller than the menu-price inflation the USDA projects for the category, while LongHorn’s 6.2% is larger. The comparison mixes a fiscal quarter with a calendar-year forecast, so it is indicative only.
How dividend income is taxed
Investors who hold Darden outside a retirement account will see the payment on a tax form. The IRS Topic 404 says dividends can be classified as ordinary or qualified, that ordinary dividends are included in ordinary income, and that qualified dividends are taxed at lower capital gain rates. Payers send a Form 1099-DIV for distributions of at least $10, and recipients of substantial dividend income may be subject to the net investment income tax. The Darden release does not say how the dividend will be classified.
Using room in a tax bracket during retirement
Retirees who live partly on dividends and account withdrawals often have years in which their taxable income leaves room in a lower bracket, and that room is easy to overlook without a year-by-year calculation.
The Retirement Tax & Withdrawal Planner includes a Roth bracket fill calculator and a provisional income calculator for mapping how much income a year can absorb.
Compare income scenarios in The Retirement Tax & Withdrawal Planner.
This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
