Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Trims Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS decreased its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,984 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 804 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $4,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 3,371.4% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 486 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 5,407 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. Brooklyn FI LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $701,000. Boston Partners raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 660,875 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $123,377,000 after purchasing an additional 43,934 shares during the period. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $423,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $199.92 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.73. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $203.47. 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 has a market capitalization of $23.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.15%.

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.