Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 8,342 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 21.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,669 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 8,342 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $5,644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DRI. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 926.7% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 196 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the topic of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $198.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $197.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $197.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 63.49%.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.