Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Has $11.35 Million Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. reduced its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 60,815 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 1,307 shares during the quarter. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Darden Restaurants worth $11,354,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $700,210,000 after acquiring an additional 170,336 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $530,121,000 after buying an additional 39,189 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.9% during 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. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 922,849 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $171,288,000 after acquiring an additional 121,015 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.5 %

DRI stock traded down $2.96 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $197.26. 1,112,765 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,288,214. The firm's 50-day moving average is $196.13 and its 200-day moving average is $182.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $211.00. The company has a market cap of $23.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.60, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors 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 yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 63.13%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 directly owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,264 shares of company stock valued at $9,058,583. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

About Darden Restaurants

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.