Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 11,912 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. reduced its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 23.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 38,444 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 11,912 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $7,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.3% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,438,000 after acquiring an additional 2,553 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $529,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.7% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after acquiring an additional 2,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 274 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on DRI shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.32.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $198.17 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.70 billion, a PE ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $197.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $197.24. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The business had revenue of $3.35 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

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

Darden Restaurants 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.