Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 741 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,253 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 741 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,355,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.2% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 7,393 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,236,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 100.2% in the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 7,039 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 3,523 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter worth $203,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth about $247,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.3% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 6,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $164.45 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $163.32 and a 200-day moving average of $153.77. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $176.84. The stock has a market cap of $19.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.59%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. This represents a 41.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. The trade was a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.