Exchange Traded Concepts LLC cut its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI – Free Report) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,707 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 74 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $692,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DRI. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 44,350 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,280,000 after buying an additional 2,432 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 3,300 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $597,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 27,604 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,154,000 after buying an additional 11,969 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at $216,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,763 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,677,000 after buying an additional 751 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms have weighed in on DRI. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.52.
Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.8 %
DRI stock opened at $194.01 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $22.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.31. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $179.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.63. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $194.85.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.
Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.
Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants
In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.37, for a total transaction of $2,390,653.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,684,637.36. The trade was a 47.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 45,034 shares of company stock worth $8,303,692. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.
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.
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