Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Has $11.29 Million Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 60,180 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 4,139 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.05% of Darden Restaurants worth $11,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 14,912 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,784,000 after buying an additional 1,451 shares during the period. QV Investors Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 87,702 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $16,373,000 after buying an additional 3,580 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,901,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $7,944,000 after buying an additional 8,480 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $459,216,000 after purchasing an additional 17,497 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of DRI stock traded down $2.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $194.84. 1,133,482 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,110,293. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $186.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $170.12. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $201.94. The company has a market cap of $22.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 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 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at $843,433.56. The trade was a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup decreased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants 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.