TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Sells 13,939 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 56.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,608 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 13,939 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,839,198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,824,996,000 after acquiring an additional 236,620 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,463,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $849,726,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,211 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171,890 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,904,022 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $362,848,000 after acquiring an additional 19,819 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 239.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 722,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $157,490,000 after acquiring an additional 509,655 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $202.44 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $228.27. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $202.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $23.19 billion, a PE ratio of 21.42, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.64.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DRI. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.