M&T Bank Corp Has $5.90 Million Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 1.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $5,901,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 9.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,833 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $629,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.4% during the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $184.79 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $188.88. The company has a 50 day moving average of $166.87 and a 200-day moving average of $157.34. 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 firm has a market cap of $21.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31.

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, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total value of $542,587.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,005,911.65. This trade represents a 35.04 % 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, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. This represents a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,320 shares of company stock worth $1,366,948. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. BTIG Research upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.44.

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.