Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 5,602 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Yousif Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 31.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,395 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 5,602 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $1,454,356,000 after buying an additional 8,851,795 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted 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 worth $772,635,000 after buying an additional 26,601 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted 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 worth $587,638,000 after buying an additional 123,900 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 worth $459,216,000 after buying an additional 17,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,352,608 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $386,133,000 after buying an additional 44,464 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at $843,433.56. This trade represents a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % 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 worth $9,850,129. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE DRI traded down $2.63 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $190.83. 1,149,022 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,067,537. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.91. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $201.94. The firm has a market cap of $22.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.86, a PEG ratio of 2.21 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 (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DRI. Stephens upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One 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 MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $192.52.

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.