Insider Selling: Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Insider Sells $489,900.00 in Stock

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Melvin John Martin also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, September 27th, Melvin John Martin sold 2,000 shares of Darden Restaurants stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $334,460.00.
• On Thursday, July 25th, Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $155.93 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $156.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $152.73. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $133.36 and a 12 month high of $176.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The company has a market capitalization of $18.61 billion, a PE ratio of 18.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.73%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 206.5% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 49,082 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,204,000 after acquiring an additional 33,066 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 131.3% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $838,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 499.8% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 13,525 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,261,000 after buying an additional 11,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.6% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 136,364 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $21,158,000 after purchasing an additional 7,184 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.25.

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.