Darden Restaurants dividend history

Darden Restaurants's dividend was $6.00 a share in fiscal 2026, up 7.1% on the year before. That was 57.4% of net income. It has raised its dividend per share every year since fiscal 2021.

Dividends, buybacks and capital spending

FY2027 Q1 TTM

Buybacks (TTM): $710M
Dividends (TTM): $702M
Returned to shareholders: 134%; of free cash flow
Buybacks, last 3 fiscal years: $1.5B
Diluted share count: −2.1%; year over year
Total shareholder yield: 5.5%; dividends 2.8% + buybacks 2.8% of market value
Dividend payout ratio: 59%; of net income paid out

Dividends by fiscal year

US$ millions unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Darden Restaurants: dividends by fiscal year, annual
Fiscal year	2010May 2010	2011May 2011	2012May 2012	2013May 2013	2014May 2014	2015May 2015	2016May 2016	2017May 2017	2018May 2018	2019May 2019	2020May 2020	2021May 2021	2022May 2022	2023May 2023	2024May 2024	2025May 2025	2026May 2026	LTMAug 2026
Dividend per share	$1.00	$1.28	$1.72	$2.00	$2.20	$2.20	$2.10	$2.24	$2.52	$3.00	$2.64	$1.55	$4.40	$4.84	$5.24	$5.60	$6.00	—
Dividend per share growth	—	+28.0%	+34.4%	+16.3%	+10.0%	0.0%	−4.5%	+6.7%	+12.5%	+19.0%	−12.0%	−41.3%	+183.9%	+10.0%	+8.3%	+6.9%	+7.1%	—
Dividends paid	140	176	224	258	288	279	268	279	314	371	322	203	563	590	628	659	693	702
Share buybacks	85	386	375	52	1	502	185	230	235	208	330	45	1,071	459	454	418	672	710
Dividends ÷ net income	34.6%	36.8%	47.1%	62.7%	100.7%	39.3%	71.5%	58.3%	52.6%	52.0%	—	32.2%	59.1%	60.1%	61.2%	62.7%	57.4%	59.4%
Dividends ÷ free cash flow	29.7%	50.6%	400.5%	306.3%	205.0%	48.3%	45.3%	44.8%	50.3%	45.5%	125.2%	21.6%	63.4%	59.7%	61.6%	62.0%	61.9%	66.6%

Dividend per share is the amount declared for the fiscal year as stated in the company's filings (including any special dividend), restated for stock splits and checked against the cash dividends paid. Dividends paid and buybacks are cash amounts; the last-twelve-months column can include an extra payment when a quarter-end date moves.

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Figures from Darden Restaurants's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 20, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Darden Restaurants.