Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Sold by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 6.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,953 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 623 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 395.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at $10,075,040.80. This trade represents a 41.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $659,601.36. This represents a 59.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $165.39 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.43 billion, a PE ratio of 19.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $177.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.46.

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.