John W. Madonna Sells 1,806 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Stock

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total transaction of $375,431.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.5 %

DRI opened at $204.89 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $194.62 and a 200 day moving average of $178.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $211.00. The firm has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 63.13%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $772,635,000 after buying an additional 26,601 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $700,210,000 after acquiring an additional 170,336 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $530,121,000 after purchasing an additional 39,189 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $300,446,000 after purchasing an additional 4,454 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on DRI shares. Barclays lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.08.

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.