Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Sold by Savant Capital LLC

Savant Capital LLC cut its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 74.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,522 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,426 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $280,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $2,404,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 23,473 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,319,000 after purchasing an additional 5,830 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,171,890 shares during the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at $6,743,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 177.3% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 12,547 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,388,000 after purchasing an additional 8,022 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on DRI shares. Stephens increased their target price 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen research 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.88.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,391.84. This trade represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $198.11 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $197.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $197.38. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.49%.

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.