Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Sold by Swedbank AB

Key Points

• Swedbank AB cut its Darden Restaurants stake by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 10,359 shares and leaving it with 67,699 shares valued at about $12.46 million.
• Analysts remain generally bullish on DRI, with 18 Buy ratings and 9 Hold ratings, a consensus “Moderate Buy,” and an average price target of $226.24.
• Darden posted solid quarterly results and continues to pay a strong dividend, with EPS of $2.95 topping estimates, revenue of $3.35 billion, and a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, equal to a 3.1% yield.

Swedbank AB lessened its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 13.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 67,699 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 10,359 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned 0.06% of Darden Restaurants worth $12,458,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $17,438,000 after acquiring an additional 2,553 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $529,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 15.7% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $4,151,000 after acquiring an additional 2,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $3,964,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $226.24.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 274 shares in the company, valued at $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE DRI opened at $196.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $228.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $200.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.49%.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden's restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand's positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.

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