Eastern Bank Has $1.72 Million Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Eastern Bank decreased its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 36.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,189 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 5,176 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $486,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $27,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 14.7% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 10,905 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,650,000 after acquiring an additional 1,397 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 71.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 696,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $105,345,000 after acquiring an additional 289,876 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,141,974 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $172,811,000 after purchasing an additional 132,643 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE DRI opened at $182.81 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $189.18. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $174.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $161.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.42 billion, a PE ratio of 21.09, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on DRI shares. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $189.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other 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 owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,433.56. This represents a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.