Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Sold by Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. trimmed its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 0.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,918 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 84 shares during the quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $6,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 34.8% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DRI. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.13.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at $10,075,040.80. This represents a 41.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Nana Mensah sold 1,171 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.90, for a total value of $201,294.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10 shares in the company, valued at $1,719. This trade represents a 99.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $176.27 on Monday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $177.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.12. The firm has a market cap of $20.71 billion, a PE ratio of 20.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.59%.

Darden Restaurants 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.