CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Raises Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 108,825 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 8,154 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned 0.09% of Darden Restaurants worth $20,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 103.2% during the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DRI. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Darden Restaurants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Raymond James upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI traded down $1.71 during trading on Friday, reaching $198.73. The company had a trading volume of 275,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,283,232. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $211.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $196.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $183.16.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The company's revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is presently 63.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total value of $474,418.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. The trade was a 18.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at $12,249,066.84. The trade was a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,505 shares of company stock valued at $6,667,929 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

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.