Cullen Investment Group LTD. Cuts Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Cullen Investment Group LTD. trimmed its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 39.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,423 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 14,165 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $4,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $507,675,000 after buying an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $849,726,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,211 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 820.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 706,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $153,977,000 after acquiring an additional 629,669 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 45.2% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,917,398 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $417,935,000 after acquiring an additional 596,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 192.6% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 880,765 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $191,980,000 after purchasing an additional 579,759 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on DRI. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. 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. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $207.00 price objective (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total transaction of $1,450,448.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,040 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,644.80. The trade was a 42.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total value of $480,954.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,787,992. The trade was a 11.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $201.51 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $207.58 and its 200 day moving average is $194.35. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $228.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $23.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.32, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

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

Darden Restaurants Company 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.