Fortis Group Advisors LLC Invests $797,000 in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,998 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $797,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $507,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171,890 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,463,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $849,726,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,211 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 239.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 722,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $157,490,000 after acquiring an additional 509,655 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,839,198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,824,996,000 after acquiring an additional 236,620 shares during the period. Finally, Man Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 148.5% during the 3rd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 271,651 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $51,711,000 after acquiring an additional 162,318 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $195.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $196.91 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27. The company has a market cap of $22.55 billion, a PE ratio of 20.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average of $197.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.59.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

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

Darden Restaurants Company 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.