Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Takes $343,000 Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise has acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, purchasing 1,649 shares valued at approximately $343,000.
• Several institutional investors have increased their holdings in Darden Restaurants, with 93.64% of the stock now owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• Darden Restaurants recently boosted its quarterly dividend from $1.40 to $1.50 per share and announced a stock buyback plan allowing for the repurchase of up to $1 billion in shares.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,649 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $343,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 13,074 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 31.8% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,230 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $3,164,000 after acquiring an additional 3,677 shares during the period. Twin Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $286,000. Choreo LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 46.0% in the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $3,376,000 after buying an additional 5,119 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 12,882 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,405,000 after buying an additional 1,720 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on DRI. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $245.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $252.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $225.19.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of DRI stock opened at $203.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.92, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.10 and a 1-year high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $214.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $202.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion for 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 company's revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is currently 67.57%.

Darden Restaurants declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, June 20th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 3.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 4,735 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.78, for a total value of $1,059,598.30. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,602 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,029,835.56. This trade represents a 50.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 13,569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.45, for a total value of $2,937,010.05. Following the transaction, the insider owned 46,327 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,027,479.15. This trade represents a 22.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 45,727 shares of company stock worth $10,022,232. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.

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