Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Stake Reduced by US Bancorp DE

US Bancorp DE cut its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 62,893 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,227 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE owned about 0.05% of Darden Restaurants worth $5,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.6% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Ledyard National Bank raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 399.4% in the first quarter. Ledyard National Bank now owns 1,638 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 1,310 shares during the last quarter. First Manhattan Co. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.8% in the first quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 2,754 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. MEMBERS Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the first quarter worth approximately $201,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.0% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 2,477 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.62% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE DRI) traded up 1.30% on Friday, reaching $83.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,238,064 shares. The company has a market cap of $10.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.86 and a beta of 0.27. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.93 and a 52-week high of $95.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $88.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.82.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 27th. The restaurant operator reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 6.68% and a return on equity of 26.18%. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post $4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.63 per share. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 6th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 66.14%.

TRADEMARK VIOLATION WARNING: This story was first posted by [[site]] and is the sole property of of [[site]]. If you are reading this story on another site, it was stolen and reposted in violation of United States and international trademark & copyright law. The original version of this story can be viewed at [[permalink]].

A number of analysts have weighed in on DRI shares. Bank of America Corporation set a $80.00 target price on Darden Restaurants and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 26th. Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. increased their target price on Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, June 26th. Canaccord Genuity restated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, June 9th. Zacks Investment Research cut Darden Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.78.

In other news, insider Eugene I. Lee, Jr. sold 93,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.58, for a total transaction of $8,528,387.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 165,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,116,377.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a full-service restaurant company. The Company owned and operated 1,536 restaurants through its subsidiaries in the United States and Canada, as of May 29, 2016. The Company’s segments include Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Fine Dining (which includes The Capital Grille, and Eddie V’s Prime Seafood and Wildfish Seafood Grille (Eddie V’s)) and Other Business (which includes Yard House, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, consumer-packaged goods and franchise revenues).