Wambolt & Associates LLC Sells 449 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Wambolt & Associates LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 20.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,773 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 449 shares during the period. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $642,967,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the third quarter worth $40,048,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 6,456.8% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 185,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $34,556,000 after buying an additional 182,275 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $700,210,000 after buying an additional 170,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 922,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $171,288,000 after acquiring an additional 121,015 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $207.43 on Wednesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $210.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $193.09 and a 200-day moving average of $177.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $24.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.76, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, TD Securities raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.37, for a total value of $2,390,653.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,684,637.36. This trade represents a 47.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the sale, the insider now owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. The trade was a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,698 shares of company stock worth $8,536,729. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.