Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Stake Cut by First Financial Bank Trust Division

First Financial Bank Trust Division cut its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 12.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,148 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 3,986 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $5,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $700,210,000 after buying an additional 170,336 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $530,121,000 after purchasing an additional 39,189 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $300,446,000 after purchasing an additional 4,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,441,518 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $269,117,000 after acquiring an additional 158,168 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total value of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,056 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on DRI. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $214.30. 1,415,696 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,324,366. The stock has a market cap of $25.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.55, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $215.68. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $202.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $190.80.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

Darden Restaurants 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.