Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Sold by Atria Investments Inc

Atria Investments Inc lowered its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,577 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,003 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 248,597 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,802,000 after acquiring an additional 11,040 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.6% during the third quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 217,024 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $35,698,000 after purchasing an additional 11,428 shares during the period. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.6% during the third quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 13,461 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,209,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares in the last quarter. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the third quarter worth about $266,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 151,293 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $24,832,000 after buying an additional 5,816 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on DRI shares. Piper Sandler upped 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. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. This represents a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,057,743.30. This represents a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE DRI opened at $168.69 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $176.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market cap of $19.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $162.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.56.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 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.