NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,752 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 9,177 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $10,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Impact Investors Inc bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $405,000. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 14,912 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 358,891 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $67,001,000 after purchasing an additional 13,074 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 146,460 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $27,343,000 after purchasing an additional 4,543 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QV Investors Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 87,702 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $16,373,000 after buying an additional 3,580 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.38.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on Darden Restaurants
Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants
In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,505 shares of company stock valued at $6,667,929. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.3 %
DRI stock traded down $0.60 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $202.05. The company had a trading volume of 329,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,283,347. The stock has a market cap of $23.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.14, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $196.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $211.00.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.
Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.13%.
About Darden Restaurants
(
Free Report)
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.
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