State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Has $4.85 Million Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury reduced its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,955 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,684 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $4,846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $700,210,000 after purchasing an additional 170,336 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.4% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,282,666 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $239,466,000 after buying an additional 116,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,046,774 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $195,422,000 after buying an additional 102,888 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of DRI opened at $199.08 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $211.00. The company has a market capitalization of $23.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $196.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.43.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 63.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 directly owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. The trade was a 18.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,505 shares of company stock worth $6,667,929 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on DRI shares. Raymond James increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.