Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,220,000 shares, a decrease of 6.7% from the November 30th total of 6,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,300,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.8 days. Currently, 5.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.44.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $186.69 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $21.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $189.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $170.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $159.45.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at $2,057,743.30. The trade was a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 395.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

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.