Matthew R. Broad Sells 4,707 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Stock

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $734,998.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,994,800.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $156.10 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $133.36 and a 12 month high of $176.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.63 billion, a PE ratio of 18.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $164.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $159.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The restaurant operator reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.02 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 49.94%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.34 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $1.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 61.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 55.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,168,604 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $167,359,000 after buying an additional 418,860 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $58,601,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 27.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,602,543 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $229,516,000 after buying an additional 340,467 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 129.6% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 553,721 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,976,000 after buying an additional 312,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,321,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on DRI. Barclays upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $181.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $182.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.85.

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.