Legal & General Group Plc Has $117.64 Million Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 27.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 630,122 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 242,662 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.54% of Darden Restaurants worth $117,637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DRI. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 103.2% in the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was 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 owns 58,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,264 shares of company stock valued at $9,058,583 over the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Remove Ads

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $199.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 718,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,284,388. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $195.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.37. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $211.00. The stock has a market cap of $23.38 billion, a PE ratio of 22.92, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93.

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 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 firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. Darden Restaurants's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.