Hartford Investment Management Co. Sells 140 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Hartford Investment Management Co. decreased its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,246 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 140 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,497,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lion Street Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 20,142 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,760,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $190.83 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $201.94. The stock has a market cap of $22.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $185.15 and a 200 day moving average of $168.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,433.56. This trade represents a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total transaction of $2,888,762.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,472,092.64. This represents a 25.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on DRI. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.52.

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.