NEOS Investment Management LLC Purchases 1,241 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 28.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 103.2% during the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $204.89 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.87 and a 52-week high of $211.00. The stock has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $194.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.47.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 63.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 70,311 shares of company stock valued at $13,658,221. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.