Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Acquired by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 424,673 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,156 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $78,274,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,438,000 after acquiring an additional 2,553 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.7% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DRI shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. 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. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.04.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

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

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $211.67 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $224.94. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $200.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $200.14.

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.