Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Bought by Independent Advisor Alliance

Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 20.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,538 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $474,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of DRI. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 103.2% in the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on DRI. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.00.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:DRI opened at $187.63 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $191.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.86. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $203.12. The company has a market capitalization of $21.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total transaction of $2,888,762.49. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at $8,472,092.64. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.58% 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.