Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co Sells 145 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co lessened its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 32.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 300 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 145 shares during the period. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 34.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,975 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the third quarter worth $621,000. CX Institutional boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 6.2% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 9,099 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 535 shares during the period. Cabot Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at about $201,000. Finally, QV Investors Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 151.6% during the third quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 84,122 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $13,807,000 after acquiring an additional 50,690 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. This trade represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.37, for a total value of $2,390,653.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,684,637.36. This represents a 47.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on DRI. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Raymond James boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE DRI opened at $194.19 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $22.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $201.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $183.81 and its 200 day moving average is $168.25.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 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 period last year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS 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 given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.15%.

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.