Ricardo Cardenas Sells 20,518 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Stock

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $204.89 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $211.00. The firm has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a PE ratio of 23.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 63.13%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 173,318 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,357,000 after buying an additional 12,434 shares in the last quarter. 111 Capital bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,225,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,553 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,437 shares in the last quarter. Aegis Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $322,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth approximately $15,175,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DRI. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.08.

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.