Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Stake Reduced by Savant Capital LLC

Savant Capital LLC cut its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 74.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,522 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,426 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $403,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,941,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 13,425 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,556,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Glenview Trust co boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 2.4%

DRI stock opened at $198.11 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $197.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.38. The company has a market capitalization of $22.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $228.27. 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 (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. The business had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.88.

About Darden Restaurants

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.