Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Sold by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP lowered its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 83.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,069 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 46,294 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,693,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $642,967,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the third quarter worth approximately $40,048,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 6,456.8% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 185,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $34,556,000 after buying an additional 182,275 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $700,210,000 after buying an additional 170,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 922,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $171,288,000 after buying an additional 121,015 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 45,698 shares of company stock valued at $8,536,729. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Raymond James raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $208.84 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $210.47. The company has a market capitalization of $24.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $192.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.13%.

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.