Zacks Investment Management Acquires 704 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Zacks Investment Management grew its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 21,238 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 704 shares during the quarter. Zacks Investment Management’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $3,965,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $700,210,000 after purchasing an additional 170,336 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $530,121,000 after buying an additional 39,189 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,046,774 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $195,422,000 after acquiring an additional 102,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 922,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $171,288,000 after acquiring an additional 121,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total value of $474,418.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,264 shares of company stock worth $9,058,583 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $200.03 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $195.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.41 billion, a PE ratio of 22.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $211.00.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on DRI shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $192.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Profile

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.