Junto Capital Management LP Buys Shares of 262,033 Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 262,033 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $48,919,000. Junto Capital Management LP owned 0.22% of Darden Restaurants at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $700,210,000 after acquiring an additional 170,336 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at about $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $530,121,000 after purchasing an additional 39,189 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $300,446,000 after buying an additional 4,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,441,518 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $269,117,000 after buying an additional 158,168 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on DRI shares. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Stephens raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.4 %

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $198.15 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $211.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $23.19 billion, a PE ratio of 22.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $197.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $186.33.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 63.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total value of $375,431.28. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. This trade represents a 20.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.