NEW YORK, NY - Less than two years after commandeering Olive Garden’s parent, Darden Restaurants, in 2014, activist investor Starboard Value is now cutting back its stake in the company for the second time this year by another 2.7 million shares.
This latest sale of $153 million worth of stock comes just one month after Starboard sold a substantial 11 percent of its shares in January.
"Starboard has undertaken the Sales Trading Plan Agreement in large part to effectuate a rebalancing of Starboard's portfolio in light of the significant appreciation in the Issuer's stock price since the investment was made over two years ago," a filing the company made with the Securities and Exchange Commission explained.
The “significant appreciation” referred to in the filing is part of the restaurant operator’s complete turnaround of its poor financial performance in the years prior. The turnaround came after Starboard had overturned Darden’s entire Board of Directors in October of 2014 and placed Starboard CEO Jeffrey Smith as the company’s Chairman. This was proven effective in its most recent quarterly report released in December, where Darden beat Wall Street's expectations and increased sales for the seventh consecutive quarter.
As of the sale of stake in January, Starboard CEO Jeff Smith said the sales did not change his plans of remaining a major shareholder in Darden Restaurants and remaining active in the company’s operations.
Since both sales, Starboard Value has been surpassed as Darden’s largest shareholder, with investment firm Vanguard Group taking the lead at an 8.5 percent stake.
