Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Sold by 1ST Source Bank

1ST Source Bank reduced its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,255 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 176 shares during the quarter. 1ST Source Bank’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $370,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 395.0% during the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on DRI. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.46.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $981,488.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at $659,601.36. This trade represents a 59.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Nana Mensah sold 1,171 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.90, for a total value of $201,294.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10 shares in the company, valued at $1,719. This trade represents a 99.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $166.60 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $165.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $156.41. 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 company has a market capitalization of $19.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $177.67.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.78 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.59%.

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.