Insider Selling: Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) SVP Sells 3,620 Shares of Stock

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) SVP Douglas Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI traded down $4.09 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $197.77. 223,499 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,500,222. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27. The company has a market cap of $22.65 billion, a PE ratio of 20.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $203.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.00.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 63.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $207.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.24.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 81.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,486,434,000 after acquiring an additional 3,613,781 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth approximately $144,483,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $113,301,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,884,339 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $346,756,000 after buying an additional 563,237 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.