Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Grows Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,788 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,415 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $6,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 103.2% during the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.37, for a total value of $2,390,653.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 14,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,684,637.36. This represents a 47.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,948.30. This trade represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on DRI shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.36.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.5 %

DRI opened at $199.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $192.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $203.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 64.15%.

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.