Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Sets New 1-Year High Following Dividend Announcement

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $188.82 and last traded at $185.67, with a volume of 897627 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $159.87.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup dropped their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.46.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $165.70 and a 200-day moving average of $156.81. 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 has a market cap of $21.36 billion, a PE ratio of 20.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at $2,057,743.30. The trade was a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 21.9% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,944,000 after acquiring an additional 8,480 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $777,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $459,216,000 after purchasing an additional 17,497 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,454,356,000 after purchasing an additional 8,851,795 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 523.9% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 194,937 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,995,000 after purchasing an additional 163,693 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.