Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Has $328,000 Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,995 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 72 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $328,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DRI. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,561 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $595,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 234.3% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 6,712 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after buying an additional 4,704 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 16,455.6% in the 1st quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 1,490 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $249,000 after buying an additional 1,481 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $13,074,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 23,555 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,937,000 after buying an additional 4,913 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at $659,601.36. This represents a 59.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 58,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,075,040.80. This trade represents a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI raised Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.7 %

DRI stock opened at $175.04 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $20.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.21, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $177.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business has a fifty day moving average of $164.35 and a 200-day moving average of $154.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.59%.

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.