Activist investor group Barington Capital Group stepped up its push for change at restaurant chain and Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants Inc on Thursday.Barington, which leads a group of shareholders that own a combined 2 percent stake in the chain, said it hired investment bank Houlihan Lokey to conduct an independent review of recommendations to improve Darden's financial performance.It also said it is working with proxy solicitation firm MacKenzie Partners.The news comes about a month after New York-based Barington said it had sent a letter to Darden management encouraging the company to break itself up and explore spinning off its real estate properties.
Darden Restaurants, Inc. is a full service restaurant company. Shares of DRI remained unchanged at $52.96. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $44.11 and as high as $55.25. On average, 1922410 shares of DRI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.
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