Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH Reduces Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH trimmed its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,088 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 95 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 131.3% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the first quarter worth $27,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 65.1% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 180 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Union Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 44.0% in the fourth quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 216 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. TD Cowen downgraded Darden Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $170.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.95.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI traded up $2.25 on Tuesday, hitting $143.47. 1,190,672 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,230,471. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $133.36 and a fifty-two week high of $176.84. The stock has a market cap of $17.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $146.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $155.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,483.19. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares in the company, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.