Lbp Am Sa Sells 30,828 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Lbp Am Sa lowered its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 86.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,654 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 30,828 shares during the quarter. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $869,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 103.2% during the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at $843,433.56. This trade represents a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $186.27 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $203.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $191.14 and a 200-day moving average of $175.64.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DRI. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.52.

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.