Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Acquired by Scissortail Wealth Management LLC

Scissortail Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 3,236.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,880 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 12,494 shares during the quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Impact Investors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at about $405,000. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 14,912 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,784,000 after buying an additional 1,451 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 358,891 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $67,001,000 after buying an additional 13,074 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 146,460 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $27,343,000 after buying an additional 4,543 shares during the period. Finally, Twin Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 58,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total value of $474,418.14. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI traded down $1.70 on Tuesday, reaching $207.03. The company had a trading volume of 1,231,398 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,305,836. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $211.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.23 billion, a PE ratio of 23.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $199.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.48.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued 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 dividend yield of 2.70%. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 63.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on DRI. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.38.

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.