Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 274,058 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,582 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $44,981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ESL Trust Services LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the first quarter worth $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.2 %

DRI opened at $166.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $19.59 billion, a PE ratio of 19.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $176.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $163.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.64.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total transaction of $542,587.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,005,911.65. The trade was a 35.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,057,743.30. This represents a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants 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.