Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) SVP Sells $1,546,437.40 in Stock

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.5 %

DRI opened at $200.50 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $181.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $166.52. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $201.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 6.4% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,404 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,087,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,408 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 71,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,862,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,216,000. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 24,132 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,961,000 after buying an additional 1,388 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.52.

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.