44 Wealth Management LLC Sells 138 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

44 Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,492 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 138 shares during the period. 44 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 103.2% during the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total transaction of $2,888,762.49. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This represents a 25.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $191.12 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $187.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $201.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.89, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 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.