GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Lowers Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA lessened its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 92.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,230 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 40,388 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.6% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,839,198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,824,996,000 after acquiring an additional 236,620 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,587,939,000 after buying an additional 43,965 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 32.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,463,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $849,726,000 after buying an additional 1,102,211 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 78.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $507,675,000 after buying an additional 1,171,890 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.1% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,904,022 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $362,848,000 after buying an additional 19,819 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $194.09 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.23 billion, a PE ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 63.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on DRI. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.