Hudson Bay Capital Management LP Has $8.69 Million Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Hudson Bay Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 69.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,550 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 19,068 shares during the period. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $8,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 103.2% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were 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 $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $1,495,072.96. The trade was a 20.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI traded up $2.36 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $209.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,227,013 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,297,810. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $198.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $211.87.

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, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants 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.