MetLife Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

MetLife Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,672 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,070 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $5,527,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 21.9% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,944,000 after purchasing an additional 8,480 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 16.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 42,281 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,398,000 after buying an additional 5,945 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter worth about $777,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,454,356,000 after acquiring an additional 8,851,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 523.9% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 194,937 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,995,000 after acquiring an additional 163,693 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE DRI opened at $176.27 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $177.67. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $164.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $155.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.33, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted 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). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business 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 an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $659,601.36. This represents a 59.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 in the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI raised Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.13.

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.