Caprock Group LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Caprock Group LLC lessened its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,376 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 669 shares during the quarter. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 34.8% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DRI. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of DRI stock opened at $167.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business’s 50 day moving average is $163.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $154.13. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, Director Nana Mensah sold 1,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.90, for a total value of $201,294.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,719. This trade represents a 99.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total transaction of $981,488.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $659,601.36. This trade represents a 59.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.