KBC Group NV Decreases Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

KBC Group NV lowered its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 17.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,911 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,649 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $3,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 98.5% during the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 64,118 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,206,000 after purchasing an additional 31,815 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 164.1% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $928,000 after buying an additional 3,027 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,536,000. Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,743,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171,890 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $207.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $201.12 on Monday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $228.27. The stock has a market cap of $23.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day moving average of $203.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $193.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The business had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 63.49%.

Darden Restaurants Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.