Motco Cuts Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Motco lowered its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,628 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 132 shares during the period. Motco’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $5,345,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $451,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,497,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $194.98 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $201.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $190.01 and a 200 day moving average of $172.09.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total transaction of $2,888,762.49. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. The trade was a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants 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.