Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $177.46 and last traded at $176.92, with a volume of 578416 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $167.69.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on DRI shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $20.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $164.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $154.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. 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 yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,057,743.30. This represents 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, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total transaction of $542,587.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,005,911.65. The trade was a 35.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 34.8% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.9% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,833 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $629,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.6% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 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.