Newport Trust Company LLC Reduces Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Newport Trust Company cut its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 27,218 shares and leaving it with 1,833,677 shares valued at about $337.4 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains constructive: analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus on Darden, with 18 Buy ratings and an average price target of $226.24. Several firms recently raised targets or upgraded the stock.
• Darden reported solid quarterly results, with EPS of $2.95 and revenue of $3.35 billion, both slightly ahead of expectations. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, equal to a 3.0% annualized yield.

Newport Trust Company LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,833,677 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 27,218 shares during the quarter. Darden Restaurants makes up 0.8% of Newport Trust Company LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Newport Trust Company LLC owned approximately 1.59% of Darden Restaurants worth $337,433,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the 2nd 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. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at about $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $4,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $3,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Mizuho raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $196.91 on Friday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $197.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.55 billion, a PE ratio of 20.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 63.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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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