Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Bought by Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 842 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 75 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $157,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $17,949,000. SPC Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 2,949 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.8% during the fourth quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 810 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $416,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $700,210,000 after purchasing an additional 170,336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.52.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at $843,433.56. This represents a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $195.06 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $190.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $203.12. The firm has a market cap of $22.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

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.