Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 17,105 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,029,669 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 17,105 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.88% of Darden Restaurants worth $213,924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $530,121,000 after acquiring an additional 39,189 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $300,446,000 after buying an additional 4,454 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,441,518 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $269,117,000 after buying an additional 158,168 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,282,666 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $239,466,000 after buying an additional 116,047 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 46,484.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 928,895 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $192,987,000 after buying an additional 926,901 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI traded down $3.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $209.33. The stock had a trading volume of 1,470,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,344,128. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $213.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $200.63. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $138.21 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.57, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.42.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 51.81% and a net margin of 8.69%. The company's revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.65 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, June 20th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.57%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 11,948 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.08, for a total transaction of $2,653,411.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,645.76. This represents a 98.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 5,780 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.22, for a total transaction of $1,284,431.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 4,555 shares in the company, valued at $1,012,212.10. The trade was a 55.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 43,714 shares of company stock worth $9,609,494 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Stephens lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $224.60.

About Darden Restaurants

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.