Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Sells 1,372 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,151 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,372 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $3,475,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 3,237 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $430,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter worth approximately $150,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 17,090 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,272,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 17.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 776,082 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $103,176,000 after acquiring an additional 113,548 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total value of $192,857.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 7,673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $1,270,034.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,848,268.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total transaction of $192,857.99. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,723 shares of company stock valued at $2,578,122. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $182.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $178.85.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:DRI opened at $152.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.25. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $133.36 and a one year high of $176.84. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $165.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $158.62.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The restaurant operator reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.02 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.94% and a net margin of 9.24%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.34 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $1.31 dividend. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.43%.

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.