Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Sold by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC cut its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 38.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,157 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 18,578 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $5,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Integrity Alliance LLC. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2,139.4% in the fourth quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. now owns 59,837 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,011,000 after acquiring an additional 57,165 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Allstate Corp increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 107.8% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 8,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,501,000 after buying an additional 4,232 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,847 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $340,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 22,020 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,052,000 after buying an additional 4,069 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of DRI opened at $206.26 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $228.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $197.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 63.49%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.32.

Darden Restaurants Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.