Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $7.10 Million Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,237 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,154 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $7,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew 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. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 395.0% during the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.46.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $166.60 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $177.67. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.41. The company has a market cap of $19.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.59%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total value 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 $1,005,911.65. This represents a 35.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at $10,075,040.80. This trade represents a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.