Marshall Wace LLP Purchases Shares of 44,960 Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 44,960 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $8,394,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Zacks Investment Management boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 21,238 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $3,965,000 after purchasing an additional 704 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 55,752 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $10,408,000 after acquiring an additional 9,177 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,682,000. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,856 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $533,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Capital Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $799,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the subject of several research reports. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One research 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, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.7 %

Darden Restaurants stock traded down $1.36 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $199.08. The stock had a trading volume of 811,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,284,197. The business's 50 day moving average price is $196.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $183.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $211.00. The company has a market cap of $23.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants's revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, 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 transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. The trade was a 25.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,206.56. The trade was a 18.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,505 shares of company stock worth $6,667,929 in the last three months. Corporate 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.