RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 1,559 Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,559 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. MCF Advisors LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in 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 in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,497,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 1,401 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Lion Street Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 20,142 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,760,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DRI. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America upped their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.1 %

DRI stock opened at $209.80 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $196.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.53. The company has a market cap of $24.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $211.00. 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 (NYSE:DRI) last posted 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. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $843,433.56. This represents a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at $8,472,092.64. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 70,311 shares of company stock valued at $13,658,221. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.