Private Advisor Group LLC Grows Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,111 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 1,215 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MCF Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,497,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lion Street Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 20,142 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,760,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of DRI opened at $194.02 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $189.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $201.94. 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 (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,948.30. This trade represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. 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. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.52.

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.