J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Purchases 2,805 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 17.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,477 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 2,805 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $3,340,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position 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 buying an additional 236,620 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,587,939,000 after buying an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position 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 buying an additional 1,102,211 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,904,022 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $362,848,000 after buying an additional 19,819 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% 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 insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on DRI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.88.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of DRI stock opened at $198.11 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $197.57 and a 200-day moving average of $197.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $228.27. The firm has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 63.49%.

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.