Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 2.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,680 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 72 shares during the quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 9.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 34.8% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 5.6% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $215,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.4% during the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total transaction of $981,488.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $659,601.36. The trade was a 59.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,666 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.00, for a total value of $286,552.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $917,448. The trade was a 23.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on DRI. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, August 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.1 %

DRI opened at $166.78 on Friday. 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 one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $176.84. The company has a market cap of $19.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.24, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.64.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

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.