Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Reduces Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimmed its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,984 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 804 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $4,664,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $772,635,000 after acquiring an additional 26,601 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $700,210,000 after acquiring an additional 170,336 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $459,216,000 after acquiring an additional 17,497 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 111.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,469,083 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $241,121,000 after acquiring an additional 772,907 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.36.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $199.92 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.73. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $203.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.