Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Short Interest Update

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,220,000 shares, a decline of 6.7% from the November 30th total of 6,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.8 days. Approximately 5.3% of the company's stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on DRI. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wedbush increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $187.44.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI stock traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $186.69. 834,056 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,250,780. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $189.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The stock's fifty day moving average is $169.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $158.99. The company has a market cap of $21.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 64.15%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the business'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 value of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. The trade was a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.1% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,901,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $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 in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $777,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $459,216,000 after acquiring an additional 17,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,454,356,000 after purchasing an additional 8,851,795 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.