Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Sold by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp lessened its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 16.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,790 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,920 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $4,815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 395.0% during the third 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. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 78.3% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.37, for a total transaction of $2,390,653.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,328 shares in the company, valued at $2,684,637.36. This represents a 47.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the sale, the insider now owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. The trade was a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,034 shares of company stock valued at $8,303,692. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.52.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $187.69 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $177.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $163.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $189.18. The firm has a market cap of $21.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.