Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Shares Gap Up Following Dividend Announcement

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The stock had previously closed at $159.14, but opened at $173.51. Darden Restaurants shares last traded at $169.20, with a volume of 635,457 shares.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 65.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Stephens boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $153.52. The company has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares in the company, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares in the company, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of DRI. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $4,216,000. Farmers National Bank grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 8.3% during the second quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 3,515 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $532,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $1,856,000. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 71,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,862,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.6% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

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.