Flputnam Investment Management Co. Has $13.26 Million Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Flputnam Investment Management Co. lowered its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 72,035 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 9,150 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. owned about 0.06% of Darden Restaurants worth $13,256,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DRI. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $17,438,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $529,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.7% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $4,151,000 after buying an additional 2,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $3,964,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Stephens lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.2%

DRI stock opened at $203.87 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $23.35 billion, a PE ratio of 21.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $197.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $196.10. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $228.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.35 billion during 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%.Darden Restaurants's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is currently 63.49%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Profile

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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