Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Holdings Lifted by Ossiam

Ossiam increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 14.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 976 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Ossiam’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $182,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.1% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,901,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,081,000. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 824.5% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 40,741 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,687,000 after acquiring an additional 36,334 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 151,293 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $24,832,000 after acquiring an additional 5,816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,994 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,505 shares of company stock worth $6,667,929 in the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of DRI stock opened at $202.60 on Wednesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $211.00. The company has a market cap of $23.71 billion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The business’s 50 day moving average is $196.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.74.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.38.

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.