John Wilkerson Sells 8,864 Shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Stock

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) insider John Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. The trade was a 32.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $213.80 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $204.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $203.12. The stock has a market cap of $24.39 billion, a PE ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $220.65.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 62.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.88.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,522,000. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth approximately $383,000. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth approximately $221,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,981,000. Finally, Aegis Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at approximately $299,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.