Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Insider John Wilkerson Sells 8,864 Shares

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) insider John Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,915,354.02. The trade was a 32.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE:DRI traded up $1.46 on Friday, reaching $212.40. The stock had a trading volume of 128,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,385,241. The company has a 50-day moving average of $203.98 and a 200 day moving average of $203.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $24.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $220.65.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Evercore cut Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stephens increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.88.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DRI. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Union Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 926.7% during the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

About Darden Restaurants

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.