Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Sold by Bridgewater Associates LP

Bridgewater Associates LP reduced its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 66.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,330 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 73,547 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $6,127,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DRI. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 21.9% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,944,000 after purchasing an additional 8,480 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 16.4% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 42,281 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,398,000 after buying an additional 5,945 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,454,356,000 after buying an additional 8,851,795 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 523.9% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 194,937 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,995,000 after acquiring an additional 163,693 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the third quarter worth about $682,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of several research reports. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI upgraded Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE DRI opened at $176.42 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $177.67. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $154.89. The company has a market capitalization of $20.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 64.59%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. This trade represents a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Darden Restaurants

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.