Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) CFO Sells $1,313,399.88 in Stock

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.6 %

DRI stock opened at $187.58 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $189.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $22.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.63.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.15%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.44.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.1% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,901,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,944,000 after buying an additional 8,480 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at $777,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $459,216,000 after acquiring an additional 17,497 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,454,356,000 after acquiring an additional 8,851,795 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

About Darden Restaurants

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.