Insider Selling: Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) CFO Sells 5,780 Shares of Stock

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 5,780 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.22, for a total transaction of $1,284,431.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,555 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,012,212.10. This represents a 55.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of DRI traded down $1.26 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $216.21. The stock had a trading volume of 531,938 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,332,060. The company has a market cap of $25.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.36, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.75. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $209.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.98. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.28.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced 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 company 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 firm posted $2.65 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on DRI. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $224.60.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Impact Investors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $405,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 358,891 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $67,001,000 after buying an additional 13,074 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 146,460 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $27,343,000 after acquiring an additional 4,543 shares during the period. Twin Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $286,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 12,882 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,405,000 after acquiring an additional 1,720 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.

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