Susan M. Connelly Sells 3,320 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Stock

by · The Cerbat Gem

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total transaction of $542,587.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,155 shares in the company, valued at $1,005,911.65. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.9 %

DRI opened at $164.84 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $155.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.09. The company has a market cap of $19.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.30. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $133.36 and a 1 year high of $176.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect 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 given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 65.73%.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 61.7% during the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 3,516 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 88,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178 shares in the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 21,366.7% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 644 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 18,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,985,000 after acquiring an additional 3,371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,258,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Argus reduced their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.25.

Read Our Latest Report on Darden Restaurants

About Darden Restaurants

(Get Free Report)

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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