Legal & General Group Plc Lowers Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 27.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 630,122 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 242,662 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.54% of Darden Restaurants worth $117,637,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $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 acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 103.2% in the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Raymond James upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 2.3 %

DRI opened at $191.81 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $196.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $180.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $22.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $211.00.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.13%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at $8,472,092.64. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,047 shares of company stock worth $11,947,346 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.