Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 3,546 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Bridgewater Associates LP lessened its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,784 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 3,546 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $6,307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.1% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,901,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at $1,081,000. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 824.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 40,741 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $6,687,000 after buying an additional 36,334 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 151,293 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $24,832,000 after buying an additional 5,816 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,994 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $372,000 after buying an additional 673 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on DRI shares. Raymond James upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $201.38.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. The trade was a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,505 shares of company stock worth $6,667,929 in the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE DRI traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $203.01. 297,564 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,255,011. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $23.76 billion, a PE ratio of 23.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company's fifty day moving average is $196.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $211.00.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.13%.

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.