Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Has $21.77 Million Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado decreased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 116,586 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 123 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $21,765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Impact Investors Inc bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $405,000. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 14,912 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,784,000 after acquiring an additional 1,451 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 358,891 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $67,001,000 after acquiring an additional 13,074 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 146,460 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $27,343,000 after acquiring an additional 4,543 shares during the period. Finally, QV Investors Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 87,702 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,373,000 after purchasing an additional 3,580 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. The trade was a 25.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. This trade represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,505 shares of company stock valued at $6,667,929 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on DRI shares. Guggenheim increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $192.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE DRI opened at $199.08 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $196.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.80. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $211.00. The firm has a market cap of $23.30 billion, a PE ratio of 22.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.13%.

Darden Restaurants 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.