Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Acquired by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 19.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 761,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 122,045 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $140,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 926.7% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Wealth Watch Advisors INC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.88.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $198.11 on Monday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $228.27. The company has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $197.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $197.56.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Darden Restaurants

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.