Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Sold by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 98.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,038 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 191,899 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $567,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 395.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.3% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 312 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,433.56. This trade represents a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on DRI. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.5 %

Darden Restaurants stock traded up $1.07 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $199.74. The company had a trading volume of 868,405 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,132,259. The stock has a market cap of $23.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $200.90. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $181.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.28.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

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.