Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Sold by Mcdonald Partners LLC

Mcdonald Partners LLC reduced its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Mcdonald Partners LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $373,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 14,912 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451 shares in the last quarter. QV Investors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 87,702 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,373,000 after purchasing an additional 3,580 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,901,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 21.9% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $459,216,000 after purchasing an additional 17,497 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 4.7 %

NYSE DRI opened at $200.16 on Wednesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $201.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $186.23 and a 200-day moving average of $169.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The company has a market cap of $23.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS 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 company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.37, for a total value of $2,390,653.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 14,328 shares in the company, valued at $2,684,637.36. This represents a 47.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.