Townsquare Capital LLC Has $559,000 Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Townsquare Capital LLC decreased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 82.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,406 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 16,394 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $559,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 34.8% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of DRI opened at $171.22 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $20.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $177.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $164.82 and a 200 day moving average of $155.41.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 64.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total value of $542,587.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,005,911.65. The trade was a 35.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $659,601.36. The trade was a 59.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.13.

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.