4,516 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Bought by Woodline Partners LP

Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,516 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $843,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 103.2% in the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $61,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock traded down $0.19 during trading on Thursday, reaching $213.57. 1,623,714 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,320,293. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.99 billion, a PE 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $201.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $190.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. The trade was a 25.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. The trade was a 20.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.