Advisor Resource Council acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,593 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $331,000.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 171.4% in the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 133 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 108.8% in the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 142 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 296.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 555.3% during the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 308 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants
In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 11,948 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.08, for a total transaction of $2,653,411.84. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 147 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,645.76. This represents a 98.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 4,735 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.78, for a total transaction of $1,059,598.30. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,602 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,029,835.56. This represents a 50.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,463 shares of company stock valued at $4,997,442 over the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
DRI has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $245.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $252.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $224.60.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on Darden Restaurants
Darden Restaurants Price Performance
DRI traded down $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $215.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,490,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,345,605. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.75. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $209.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $197.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.69% and a return on equity of 51.81%. The firm's revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.65 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Darden Restaurants announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, June 20th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 3.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 63.06%.
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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