AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC Sells 16,365 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI – Get Rating) by 90.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 16,365 shares during the quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 3,237 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 25.1% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 1st quarter valued at $150,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 17,090 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,272,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 776,082 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $103,176,000 after purchasing an additional 113,548 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DRI. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $148.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 5th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $134.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 29th. Credit Suisse Group raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $148.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $150.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, December 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $153.76.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE DRI opened at $143.97 on Monday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $110.96 and a 12 month high of $152.08. The stock has a market cap of $17.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $146.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Friday, December 16th. The restaurant operator reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.11. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 42.51% and a net margin of 9.10%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 10th were paid a $1.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 9th. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.76%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Richard L. Renninger sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.99, for a total transaction of $739,950.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 22,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,310,240.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Richard L. Renninger sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.99, for a total transaction of $739,950.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 22,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,310,240.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 2,229 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $334,350.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,328 shares in the company, valued at $799,200. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 9,229 shares of company stock valued at $1,358,200. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Profile

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Darden Restaurants, Inc is a full-service restaurant company, which engages in the provision of restaurant services. It operates through the following segments: Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Fine Dining, and Other Business. The Olive Garden segment is the largest full-service dining Italian restaurant operator.