Advisors Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 5.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 44,539 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,615 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $6,325,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in DRI. Cowa LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. MUFG Americas Holdings Corp bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Kistler Tiffany Companies LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2,100.0% in the first quarter. Kistler Tiffany Companies LLC now owns 220 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. 87.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Several research firms have recently commented on DRI. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 25th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $144.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 29th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 27th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $130.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $144.63.
Shares of DRI stock opened at $141.60 on Thursday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.68 and a 1-year high of $149.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $142.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $130.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $18.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -75.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 1.54.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 24th. The restaurant operator reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.60 billion. Darden Restaurants had a positive return on equity of 5.94% and a negative net margin of 3.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 26.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 3.97 earnings per share for the current year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 9th were paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 8th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 112.46%.
Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 25th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 2.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.
In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 7,783 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.83, for a total transaction of $1,127,211.89. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,469,010.69. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Eugene I. Lee, Jr. sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.88, for a total value of $5,715,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 268,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,392,856.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 79,269 shares of company stock worth $11,390,912. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.
Darden Restaurants Company Profile
Darden Restaurants, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. As of May 31, 2020, it owned and operated approximately 1,804 restaurants, which included 868 under the Olive Garden, 522 under the LongHorn Steakhouse, 165 under the Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, 81 under the Yard House, 60 under The Capital Grille, 44 under the Seasons 52, 41 under the Bahama Breeze, and 23 under the Eddie V's Prime Seafood brands.
Further Reading: Diversification Important in Investing
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding DRI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI).