Schroder Investment Management Group Reduces Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Schroder Investment Management Group cut its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,547 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,382 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $3,838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total transaction of $2,888,762.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $4,271,642.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at $12,249,066.84. The trade was a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 70,311 shares of company stock worth $13,658,221 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 4.2 %

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $192.28 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.87 and a 52-week high of $211.00. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $196.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.03.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.