The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 19,115 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 383,915 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 19,115 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.33% of Darden Restaurants worth $63,012,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Qsemble Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 61.5% in the third quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 29,524 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,846,000 after acquiring an additional 11,241 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $72,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,514,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 11.2% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 14,534 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,385,000 after buying an additional 1,464 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marco Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.0% in the third quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 11,175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,834,000 after buying an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value 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. The trade was a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 in the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $175.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $20.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $177.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $164.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $154.61. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost 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%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 64.59%.

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.