Tidal Investments LLC Decreases Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Tidal Investments LLC decreased its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 40.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,328 shares during the quarter. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. WealthShield Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC now owns 10,743 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,626,000 after buying an additional 961 shares in the last quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $639,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,543 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,589,000. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 35.9% in the second quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 3,570 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $540,000 after buying an additional 943 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on DRI. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.60.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $334,460.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,562 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,602,433.26. The trade was a 11.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total transaction of $542,587.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,005,911.65. The trade was a 35.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,320 shares of company stock worth $1,366,948. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI opened at $187.59 on Monday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $188.88. The company has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $166.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $157.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

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.