J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Has $72.94 Million Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 390,672 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 5,583 shares during the quarter. Darden Restaurants makes up about 1.2% of J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG owned about 0.33% of Darden Restaurants worth $72,935,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 valued at $700,210,000 after buying an additional 170,336 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $530,121,000 after buying an additional 39,189 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,282,666 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $239,466,000 after acquiring an additional 116,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,046,774 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $195,422,000 after buying an additional 102,888 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities increased their price objective 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. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $201.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total value of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,056 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,505 shares of company stock valued at $6,667,929 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI traded down $1.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $199.08. The stock had a trading volume of 811,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,284,197. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $211.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $183.43.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.60 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter 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 business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid 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 dividend 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.