Western Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Western Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 77.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 7,299 shares during the quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 98.5% in the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 64,118 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,206,000 after buying an additional 31,815 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 164.1% during the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $928,000 after buying an additional 3,027 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 23,473 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,319,000 after buying an additional 5,830 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,536,000. Finally, 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 buying an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DRI. Citigroup raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Barclays lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $196.15 on Monday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $198.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.16. The stock has a market cap of $22.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

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

About Darden Restaurants

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.