Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Insider Sells $2,937,010.05 in Stock

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) insider Todd Burrowes sold 13,569 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.45, for a total transaction of $2,937,010.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 46,327 shares in the company, valued at $10,027,479.15. The trade was a 22.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE:DRI traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $219.35. 1,314,513 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,349,183. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $25.67 billion, a PE ratio of 24.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.74. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $211.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.72. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.69% and a return on equity of 51.81%. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.65 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Friday, June 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 3.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.06%.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Grove Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 171.4% during the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 133 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 108.8% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 142 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Centennial Bank AR purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised Darden Restaurants from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $224.60.

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.