California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 5,854 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 461,200 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 5,854 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $86,101,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $642,967,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $75,137,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 6,456.8% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 185,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $34,556,000 after purchasing an additional 182,275 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $700,210,000 after purchasing an additional 170,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 922,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $171,288,000 after purchasing an additional 121,015 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of DRI opened at $208.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.97. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $211.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.83, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 63.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 70,311 shares of company stock valued at $13,658,221 over the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.