Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Insider Melvin John Martin Sells 2,000 Shares

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,000 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $334,460.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,562 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,602,433.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Melvin John Martin also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, July 25th, Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE:DRI traded down $2.58 on Monday, hitting $164.13. 1,341,424 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,246,516. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.30. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $133.36 and a 52 week 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. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $153.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $153.07.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 65.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DRI. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $72,901,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 71.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 696,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $105,345,000 after acquiring an additional 289,876 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 139.9% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 352,344 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $53,317,000 after acquiring an additional 205,450 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 81.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 457,114 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $69,125,000 after acquiring an additional 204,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,809,155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $297,244,000 after acquiring an additional 169,642 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.25.

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.