American Century Companies Inc. Reduces Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 69.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 173,026 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 391,612 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.15% of Darden Restaurants worth $32,302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $642,967,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 6,456.8% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 185,098 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $34,556,000 after purchasing an additional 182,275 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 922,849 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $171,288,000 after buying an additional 121,015 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,046,774 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $195,422,000 after buying an additional 102,888 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $183.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $202.08.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of Darden Restaurants 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,311 shares of company stock valued at $13,658,221 in the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE DRI traded down $3.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $204.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 798,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,275,775. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.62. The stock has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $211.00.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.60 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company 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 is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 63.13%.

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.