Sanctuary Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 33.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,473 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 5,830 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $4,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DRI. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 926.7% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Wealth Watch Advisors INC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $207.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Mizuho raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $195.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $200.37 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $228.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $201.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.49.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. The company 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%.The firm's revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.80 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 63.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

About Darden Restaurants

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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