Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Sold by Congress Wealth Management LLC DE

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE cut its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,968 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 1,454 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,234,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 408.0% in the fourth quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 10,882 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,032,000 after acquiring an additional 8,740 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 83,951 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $15,673,000 after purchasing an additional 13,682 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $7,561,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 514,392 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $96,031,000 after buying an additional 8,786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 11,136 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,079,000 after buying an additional 3,454 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total value of $375,431.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. The trade was a 20.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were 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 $2,084,206.56. The trade was a 18.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 70,311 shares of company stock worth $13,658,221. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Stephens increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE DRI traded up $2.92 during trading on Monday, reaching $208.05. 1,556,326 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,276,892. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $211.00. The stock has a market cap of $24.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.83, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $195.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.97.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. 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.