GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases 673 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 50.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,994 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $372,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,901,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 21.9% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,944,000 after purchasing an additional 8,480 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at $777,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $459,216,000 after purchasing an additional 17,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,454,356,000 after buying an additional 8,851,795 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $183.69 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $21.58 billion, a PE ratio of 21.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $160.19. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $189.18.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DRI. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.44.

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.