Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Lowers Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE reduced its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,968 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,454 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,234,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 103.2% during the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction 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 represents a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,216 shares of company stock worth $12,808,372 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $207.37 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $193.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.77. The firm has a market cap of $24.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $210.47.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.08.

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.