Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,498 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 157 shares during the period. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,875 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,970 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.6% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 64,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,557,000 after purchasing an additional 1,031 shares during the period. Finally, Marks Group Wealth Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.1% during the third quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 51,851 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE DRI opened at $192.42 on Wednesday. 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 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $203.12. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.63. The company has a market capitalization of $22.54 billion, a PE ratio of 22.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 64.15%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.52.

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.