TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Has $1.95 Million Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• TD Waterhouse Canada cut its position in Darden Restaurants by 56.8% in Q4, selling 13,939 shares and retaining 10,608 shares valued at about $1.95 million.
• Wall Street sentiment is broadly positive: the consensus rating is a Moderate Buy (18 Buys, 9 Holds) with a consensus target price of $226.24, and firms like Mizuho and Deutsche Bank recently raised ratings/targets.
• Darden narrowly beat Q expectations (EPS $2.95 vs. $2.94), reported revenue up 5.9% to $3.35 billion, and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 ($6.00 annual, ~3.0% yield).

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lessened its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 56.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,608 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 13,939 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.'s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,952,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 98.5% during the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 64,118 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $12,206,000 after purchasing an additional 31,815 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 164.1% during the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 3,027 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,536,000. Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,743,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $507,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,890 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho raised Darden Restaurants from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Truist Financial reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $207.00 target price (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. 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 research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Darden Restaurants from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $202.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $202.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.12. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $228.27. The firm has a market cap of $23.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 value of $58,296.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $314,215.44. The trade was 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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