Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Acquired by Geneos Wealth Management Inc.

Key Points

• Geneos Wealth Management Inc. significantly increased its shareholding in Darden Restaurants, Inc. by 94% during the first quarter, bringing its total shares to 46,512, valued at approximately $9.66 million.
• Multiple analysts recently raised their price targets for Darden Restaurants, with Barclays setting a new target of $255.00 and labeling the stock as "overweight."
• Darden Restaurants announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.50 per share and initiated a $1 billion share buyback program, indicating confidence in the company's valuation.

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 94.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,512 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 22,534 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $9,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $530,121,000 after acquiring an additional 39,189 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $300,446,000 after buying an additional 4,454 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,441,518 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $269,117,000 after acquiring an additional 158,168 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,282,666 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $239,466,000 after buying an additional 116,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 46,484.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 928,895 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $192,987,000 after purchasing an additional 926,901 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price target 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Melius Research raised shares of Darden Restaurants to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $225.19.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of DRI traded down $0.31 on Tuesday, hitting $202.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,017,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,079,642. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.10 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $214.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $202.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 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 for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.65 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given 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 2.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is currently 67.57%.

Darden Restaurants announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, June 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 5,780 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.22, for a total transaction of $1,284,431.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,555 shares in the company, valued at $1,012,212.10. This represents a 55.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 4,735 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,835.56. The trade was a 50.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 44,047 shares of company stock valued at $9,678,362 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

About Darden Restaurants

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.