Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Bought by NewEdge Advisors LLC

NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,752 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 9,177 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $10,408,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $700,210,000 after purchasing an additional 170,336 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $530,121,000 after purchasing an additional 39,189 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,046,774 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $195,422,000 after acquiring an additional 102,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 922,849 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $171,288,000 after purchasing an additional 121,015 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on DRI. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $192.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a 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 issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $201.38.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total value of $375,431.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. The trade was a 20.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $4,271,642.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 45,264 shares of company stock valued at $9,058,583 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $200.03 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $211.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $195.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $23.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.91, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.13%.

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.

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