Westpac Banking Corp Has $74,000 Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Westpac Banking Corp lowered its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 74.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 398 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,139 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $74,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth approximately $642,967,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $75,137,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 6,456.8% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 185,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $34,556,000 after purchasing an additional 182,275 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $700,210,000 after buying an additional 170,336 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 922,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $171,288,000 after purchasing an additional 121,015 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 4.2 %

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $192.28 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $211.00. The stock has a market cap of $22.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $196.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $179.90. 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 (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,084,206.56. This represents a 18.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 70,311 shares of company stock valued at $13,658,221. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DRI. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.