C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors Purchases 150 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors raised its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,994 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors’ holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 108,636 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,281,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 3,659 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $683,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $384,000. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 73,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,671,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.52.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of DRI opened at $197.04 on Thursday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $201.94. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $186.81 and its 200 day moving average is $170.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.08 billion, a PE ratio of 22.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.15%.

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.