Raymond James & Associates Has $368.18 Million Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 11.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,202,711 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 234,410 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned about 1.85% of Darden Restaurants worth $368,183,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 2,274 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Union Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.0% in the 4th quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 216 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 16,550 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,766,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC now owns 1,871 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 13,705 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,963,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $182.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $178.85.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.3 %

DRI stock traded down $0.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $156.10. 886,615 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,153,157. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $164.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $159.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.25. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $133.36 and a 1 year high of $176.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The restaurant operator reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.63 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.02 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 49.94%. Darden Restaurants's revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.34 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $1.31 dividend. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.43%.

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, March 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total value of $192,857.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,281 shares in the company, valued at $993,717.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 7,673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $1,270,034.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,848,268.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total transaction of $192,857.99. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,281 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $3,313,120. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company's stock.

About Darden Restaurants

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.