Newport Trust Company LLC Reduces Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Newport Trust Company LLC lowered its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,833,677 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 27,218 shares during the period. Darden Restaurants makes up about 0.8% of Newport Trust Company LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Newport Trust Company LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $337,433,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.6% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,839,198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,824,996,000 after purchasing an additional 236,620 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,587,939,000 after purchasing an additional 43,965 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,463,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $849,726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,211 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,171,890 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.1% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,904,022 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $362,848,000 after purchasing an additional 19,819 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on DRI. Mizuho upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.2%

DRI stock opened at $196.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $197.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $195.59. The firm has a market cap of $22.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.84, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 63.49%.

About Darden Restaurants

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.