Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Purchased by Arkadios Wealth Advisors

Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 15.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,304 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 3,911 shares during the quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors' holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $5,471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Bangor Savings Bank raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 395.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.3% in the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 312 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the third quarter valued at approximately $72,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at $843,433.56. This trade represents a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the company'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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,275 shares of company stock valued at $5,913,038 in the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $189.12.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI traded up $0.52 on Friday, reaching $181.58. 931,685 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,474,956. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $189.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $21.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $175.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $162.08.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 64.15%.

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.