Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Bought by Ballentine Partners LLC

Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,839 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 232 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 34.8% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.6% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the first quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 1,640 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. United Community Bank increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.3% in the first quarter. United Community Bank now owns 5,918 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $989,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pitcairn Co. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.7% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 1,837 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $659,601.36. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on DRI. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $162.20 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $160.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.58. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $176.84. The company has a market cap of $19.36 billion, a PE ratio of 19.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.73%.

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.