Prudential Financial Inc. Buys 4,517 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 461,828 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,517 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.39% of Darden Restaurants worth $86,219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 408.0% in the 4th quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 10,882 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,032,000 after purchasing an additional 8,740 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 83,951 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $15,673,000 after buying an additional 13,682 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $7,561,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 514,392 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $96,031,000 after buying an additional 8,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 45.0% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 11,136 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,454 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned 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 $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 4.5 %

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $208.84 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $210.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $192.60 and a 200 day moving average of $177.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.37, for a total transaction of $2,390,653.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 14,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,684,637.36. This represents a 47.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,698 shares of company stock worth $8,536,729. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.