New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Trims Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board reduced its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,497,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, Lion Street Advisors LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 20,142 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,760,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,472,092.64. This represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI stock opened at $190.83 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $201.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $185.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.54. The firm has a market cap of $22.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.86, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.