New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,373 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 2,032 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.09% of Darden Restaurants worth $20,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,454,356,000 after buying an additional 8,851,795 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $772,635,000 after purchasing an additional 26,601 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,580,322 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $587,638,000 after purchasing an additional 123,900 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $459,216,000 after purchasing an additional 17,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 111.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,469,083 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $241,121,000 after purchasing an additional 772,907 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants
In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total transaction of $2,888,762.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research firms have recently weighed in on DRI. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $192.52.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on DRI
Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.0 %
Shares of DRI stock traded down $2.01 during trading on Thursday, hitting $194.84. 1,133,482 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,110,293. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $22.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $186.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.12. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $201.94.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is presently 64.15%.
About Darden Restaurants
(
Free Report)
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.
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