Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Bought by Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc.

Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,912 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 1,451 shares during the quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc.'s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,454,356,000 after acquiring an additional 8,851,795 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 111.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,469,083 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $241,121,000 after purchasing an additional 772,907 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 16,996.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 377,500 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $61,959,000 after acquiring an additional 375,292 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,048,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,580,322 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $587,638,000 after buying an additional 123,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on DRI. Wedbush raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.5 %

DRI stock traded up $0.90 on Wednesday, reaching $200.46. 334,765 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,096,599. The company has a market cap of $23.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. 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 one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $200.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.28.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last released 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. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.37, for a total value of $2,390,653.83. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. 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.