Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Sold by Congress Wealth Management LLC DE

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE cut its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,968 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,454 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,234,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $772,635,000 after buying an additional 26,601 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in 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 last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $459,216,000 after purchasing an additional 17,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,046,774 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $195,422,000 after purchasing an additional 102,888 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,433.56. This trade represents a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,216 shares of company stock valued at $12,808,372 over the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE DRI opened at $207.37 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $193.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.77. 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 firm has a market cap of $24.29 billion, a PE ratio of 23.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $210.47.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 63.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. 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 report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.08.

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.