Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC Purchases 758 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,795 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 758 shares during the quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $7,429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,454,356,000 after purchasing an additional 8,851,795 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $772,635,000 after buying an additional 26,601 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,580,322 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $587,638,000 after acquiring an additional 123,900 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $459,216,000 after acquiring an additional 17,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,352,608 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $386,133,000 after purchasing an additional 44,464 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of DRI stock opened at $187.69 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $21.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $189.18. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $163.52. 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, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for 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%. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief financial officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 45,034 shares of company stock worth $8,303,692 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.52.

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.