Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. Sells 19,853 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Woodley Farra Manion reduced its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 19,853 shares and leaving it with 345,145 shares valued at about $63.5 million.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on DRI, with 18 Buy ratings and 9 Hold ratings; the consensus view is a “Moderate Buy” and the average target price is $226.88.
• Darden’s fundamentals and shareholder returns remain solid: the company recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, and it paid a $1.50 quarterly dividend, implying a 2.8% annual yield.

Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. trimmed its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 345,145 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 19,853 shares during the quarter. Darden Restaurants accounts for 2.9% of Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. owned 0.30% of Darden Restaurants worth $63,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Xponance LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Xponance LLC now owns 27,819 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,119,000 after acquiring an additional 1,409 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 196 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 64.8% in the fourth quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 2,099 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $386,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 36,268 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $6,674,000 after acquiring an additional 7,377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 436,474 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $80,320,000 after acquiring an additional 50,056 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DRI. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $226.88.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $210.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.60. The firm's fifty day moving average is $198.17 and its 200-day moving average is $198.46. 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 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 63.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction 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 owned 274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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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