Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Has $12.74 Million Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 77.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 68,213 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 237,353 shares during the quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC owned about 0.06% of Darden Restaurants worth $12,735,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of DRI. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $642,967,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $75,137,000. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,919,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 145.2% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 385,029 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $71,883,000 after purchasing an additional 227,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 184.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 297,938 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $55,622,000 after purchasing an additional 193,134 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. The trade was a 25.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,206.56. This represents a 18.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492 in the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI stock traded up $7.23 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $211.25. 306,995 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,326,658. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $211.82. The firm has a market cap of $24.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $201.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $189.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.80. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 63.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DRI. Wedbush raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Darden Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $201.38.

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.