Geode Capital Management LLC Sells 11,692 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Geode Capital Management trimmed its Darden Restaurants stake slightly in the fourth quarter, selling 11,692 shares and leaving it with 3.37 million shares worth about $618.8 million. Institutional investors still own a large majority of the company at 93.64%.
• Wall Street sentiment remains positive on Darden, with analysts keeping mostly Buy or equivalent ratings and a consensus target price of $226.32. Recent updates from UBS, KeyCorp, Citigroup, and others included maintained or higher price targets.
• Darden reported solid quarterly results, with EPS of $2.95 and revenue of $3.35 billion, both slightly above expectations. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $1.50, equal to a 2.9% annualized yield.

Geode Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,374,663 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 11,692 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.93% of Darden Restaurants worth $618,832,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 926.7% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 13th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $226.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business's 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $204.27 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $197.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.54. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $228.27. The company has a market cap of $23.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were given 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 dividend yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is presently 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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