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

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

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,795 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $522,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 15,480 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,890,000 after acquiring an additional 946 shares during the last quarter. United Community Bank boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 221.2% in the fourth quarter. United Community Bank now owns 17,803 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,324,000 after acquiring an additional 12,260 shares during the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth approximately $205,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 922,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $171,288,000 after acquiring an additional 121,015 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,433.56. This trade represents a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 over the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp raised 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” 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 raised their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.00.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $187.63 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.86. The firm has a market cap of $21.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $203.12.

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. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

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.