Norges Bank Buys New Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Norges Bank opened a new stake in Darden Restaurants, buying 785,147 shares valued at about $144.5 million, equal to 0.68% of the company.
• Darden’s latest quarter topped expectations, with EPS of $2.95 and revenue of $3.35 billion, while revenue rose 5.9% year over year.
• Wall Street remains mostly constructive on the stock: analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus and a $226.32 average target price, and Darden also pays a $1.50 quarterly dividend yielding about 3.0%.

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 785,147 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $144,483,000. Norges Bank owned 0.68% of Darden Restaurants as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,941,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Stonebrook Private Inc. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.4% during the third quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 13,425 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,556,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Glenview Trust co grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the second quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 13th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $226.32.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.0%

DRI opened at $198.17 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.70 billion, a PE ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.60. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $197.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $197.24. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $228.27.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is currently 63.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares of the company's stock, valued at $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Company 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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