Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) SVP Susan Connelly Sells 9,930 Shares of Stock

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) SVP Susan Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $2,047,665.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $858,864.65. This represents a 70.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $201.22 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $23.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $202.51 and its 200-day moving average is $202.22. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $220.65. 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 (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The business had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.80%.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DRI. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 926.7% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Union Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DRI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Stephens increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.32.

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.