Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Trims Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 60,180 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,139 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $11,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DRI. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $465,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 263.2% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,453 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,128,000 after purchasing an additional 5,401 shares in the last quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $215,000. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 12,056 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,979,000 after buying an additional 988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 16,996.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 377,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $61,959,000 after buying an additional 375,292 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. This trade represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on DRI shares. Wedbush raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $190.83 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.22. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $201.94. The stock has a market cap of $22.35 billion, a PE ratio of 21.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 64.15%.

Darden Restaurants 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.