Guggenheim Capital LLC Sells 259 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Guggenheim Capital LLC decreased its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,884 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 259 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,032,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $700,210,000 after purchasing an additional 170,336 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $530,121,000 after buying an additional 39,189 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,046,774 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $195,422,000 after buying an additional 102,888 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 922,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $171,288,000 after buying an additional 121,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of DRI opened at $200.03 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.41 billion, a PE ratio of 22.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s fifty day moving average is $196.08 and its 200 day moving average is $182.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $211.00.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on DRI shares. Stephens upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.38.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at $12,249,066.84. The trade was a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total value of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. The trade was a 18.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 45,264 shares of company stock worth $9,058,583. Company insiders own 0.58% 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.