Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC Sells 1,495 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,037 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,495 shares during the period. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $6,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the third 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 bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth $31,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 34.8% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. This trade represents a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 58,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,075,040.80. The trade was a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $175.21 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $164.10 and its 200-day moving average is $154.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $177.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for 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%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 64.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on DRI shares. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI raised Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.13.

About Darden Restaurants

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.