Capital International Investors Sells 232,116 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Capital International Investors trimmed its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,070,544 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 232,116 shares during the period. Capital International Investors owned 8.60% of Darden Restaurants worth $1,880,075,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.1% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,901,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,081,000. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 36,334 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 151,293 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $24,832,000 after purchasing an additional 5,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,994 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total value of $375,431.28. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $1,495,072.96. This trade represents a 20.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,505 shares of company stock valued at $6,667,929. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.1 %

DRI stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $202.84. 405,972 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,283,563. The stock has a market cap of $23.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $211.00. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $196.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.74.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid 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 2.76%. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is presently 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.