Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Board Announces Stock Repurchase Program

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, June 20th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $226.09 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.39. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.46 billion, a PE ratio of 25.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.75.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.96 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 50.68%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on DRI shares. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.35.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This represents a 18.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total value of $375,431.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492 in the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.