Lbp Am Sa Sells 4,112 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Lbp Am Sa cut its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 46.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,654 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,112 shares during the period. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,202,711 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $368,183,000 after buying an additional 234,410 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,809,155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $297,244,000 after purchasing an additional 169,642 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.5% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,572,642 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $262,867,000 after buying an additional 82,356 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,418,592 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $233,075,000 after acquiring an additional 6,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 978,851 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $163,615,000 after buying an additional 16,454 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Bank of America increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. BTIG Research upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $154.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, July 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.95.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI traded down $2.73 during trading on Friday, hitting $142.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,284,343 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,222,458. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $147.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $156.25. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $133.36 and a one year high of $176.84. The firm has a market cap of $16.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.29.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.04. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.48 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 65.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider R Broad Matthew 5,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Profile

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.