Alps Advisors Inc. Buys 22,294 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Alps Advisors Inc. increased its Darden Restaurants stake by 19.3% in the fourth quarter, adding 22,294 shares to bring its total to 137,655 shares worth about $25.3 million.
• Darden Restaurants reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.95 and revenue of $3.35 billion, while revenue rose 5.9% year over year.
• The company recently paid a $1.50 quarterly dividend and has attracted mostly bullish analyst sentiment, with 18 Buy ratings and a consensus Moderate Buy target of $226.88.

Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 19.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 137,655 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 22,294 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Darden Restaurants worth $25,331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 926.7% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 196 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 3.6%

NYSE:DRI opened at $210.91 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $24.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.60. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $198.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $198.46. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,391.84. This trade represents a 92.96% 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, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares of the company's stock, valued at $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on DRI shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $226.88.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden's restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand's positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.

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