Park Avenue Securities LLC Sells 3,028 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Park Avenue Securities LLC reduced its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,819 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,028 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 206.5% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 49,082 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,204,000 after acquiring an additional 33,066 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 131.3% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at about $838,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 499.8% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 13,525 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,261,000 after buying an additional 11,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.6% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 136,364 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $21,158,000 after acquiring an additional 7,184 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on DRI. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Argus reduced their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.25.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $659,601.36. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at $659,601.36. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,649,483.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 77,706 shares of company stock worth $12,813,038 in the last quarter. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $159.13 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $156.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $152.66. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $133.36 and a one year high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.73%.

About Darden Restaurants

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.