Schroder Investment Management Group Sells 1,382 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Schroder Investment Management Group lessened its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,547 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,382 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $3,838,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 5,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $821,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 43.1% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 5,097 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $838,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 48.2% during the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 3,999 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $656,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 28.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,678 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 68.7% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,644 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,077 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. The trade was a 18.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,311 shares of company stock valued at $13,658,221 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $192.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $211.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $196.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.03. The firm has a market cap of $22.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.03, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

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.