Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,601 Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,601 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $299,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ascent Group LLC grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 114.3% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 6,745 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,259,000 after buying an additional 3,598 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 10,674 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,993,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $365,000. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 264,548 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $49,388,000 after buying an additional 109,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $269,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $192.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.38.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,056 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total value of $375,431.28. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock traded down $0.19 on Thursday, hitting $213.57. The company had a trading volume of 1,623,706 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,320,293. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $215.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $201.88 and a 200-day moving average of $190.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. Darden Restaurants's revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 63.13%.

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.