Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Bought by Saxon Interests Inc.

Saxon Interests Inc. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,782 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the period. Saxon Interests Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth $30,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 395.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 78.3% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth $72,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $182.34 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $189.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $175.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $161.74. The company has a market capitalization of $21.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,472,092.64. The trade was a 25.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,275 shares of company stock worth $5,913,038 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wedbush upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $189.12.

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.