Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Stock Holdings Lifted by Spire Wealth Management

Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 18.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,242 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $232,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.3% in the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.0 %

DRI stock opened at $200.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $182.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $166.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.87 and a 52-week high of $201.94.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.15%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on DRI. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.52.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129 in the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Darden Restaurants

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.