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

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) SVP Susan Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $858,864.65. The trade was a 70.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $202.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $220.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $202.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $202.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 57.80%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DRI. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $403,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,941,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.8% in the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Glenview Trust co increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on DRI. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Evercore downgraded Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.