Stephens Inc. AR Increases Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 1,832.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 53,077 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 50,331 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $9,909,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,975 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 24.5% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 11,181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,834,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $621,000. CX Institutional raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 6.2% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 9,099 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cabot Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter worth $201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on DRI. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 target price for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $197.12 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $182.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $167.51. The company has a market cap of $23.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31. 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 twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $201.94.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The company 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 company posted $1.84 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total transaction of $2,888,762.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.