Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 3,684 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 223,893 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,684 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned about 0.19% of Darden Restaurants worth $41,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,404,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 23,473 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,319,000 after purchasing an additional 5,830 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $507,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,743,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 177.3% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 12,547 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,388,000 after purchasing an additional 8,022 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $210.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $198.46. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 63.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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, Weiss Ratings raised Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,391.84. This trade represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

About Darden Restaurants

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.