Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Sells 74 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lowered its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,707 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 74 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 395.0% in the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 78.3% in the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DRI. Barclays upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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 report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $194.01 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $22.73 billion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $194.85. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $164.63.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total transaction of $2,888,762.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,472,092.64. The trade was a 25.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 45,034 shares of company stock worth $8,303,692. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.