SCS Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 23,360 Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

SCS Capital Management LLC acquired 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 institutional investor acquired 23,360 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $4,299,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,941,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 13,425 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,556,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Trust co lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $201.98 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $197.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.92. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market cap of $23.14 billion, a PE ratio of 21.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,391.84. This trade represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.32.

Darden Restaurants Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.