1,118 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Bought by Wedmont Private Capital

Wedmont Private Capital bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,118 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 296.0% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at $61,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 555.3% during the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 261 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 recently commented on DRI. Truist Financial increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. TD Securities raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Stephens increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total value of $375,431.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $1,495,072.96. This trade represents a 20.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $217.52 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $220.79. The company has a market cap of $25.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.92, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $204.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $193.63.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.13%.

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.