Earnest Partners LLC Acquires 4,454 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 4,454 shares during the period. Darden Restaurants comprises about 1.3% of Earnest Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Earnest Partners LLC owned 1.37% of Darden Restaurants worth $300,446,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 103.2% during the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wedbush upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Stephens raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $201.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of Darden Restaurants 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This represents a 18.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,505 shares of company stock worth $6,667,929 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.7 %

DRI opened at $199.08 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month 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. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $196.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.60. The firm has a market cap of $23.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.22 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 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is presently 63.13%.

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.

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