Wells Fargo & Company MN Lowers Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Wells Fargo & Company MN cut its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 636,572 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 24,579 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.53% of Darden Restaurants worth $104,589,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 2,274 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC now owns 1,871 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.0% during the third quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,997 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 65.1% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 180 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 2,188 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $359,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $734,998.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,994,800.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total transaction of $192,857.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $734,998.05. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,994,800.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,599 shares of company stock valued at $2,197,891. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush decreased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $181.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $182.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, April 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.67.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $147.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s fifty day moving average is $156.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $160.33. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $133.36 and a 52-week high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The restaurant operator reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.02 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.94% and a net margin of 9.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.31 per share. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 61.43%.

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.