New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 153,992 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,727 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.13% of Darden Restaurants worth $28,749,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 16,996.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 377,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $61,959,000 after purchasing an additional 375,292 shares during the period. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 29.5% in the 3rd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 4,048 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $664,000 after purchasing an additional 923 shares during the period. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 42.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,850 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the period. Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 7,600 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,247,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Finally, Busey Bank purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter worth about $216,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $194.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $201.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average of $187.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,948.30. This trade represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.52.

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.