New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 41,851.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,888 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 44,781 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $8,380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $772,635,000 after purchasing an additional 26,601 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 170,336 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth about $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $459,216,000 after acquiring an additional 17,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.9% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 102,888 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.
Darden Restaurants Stock Performance
Darden Restaurants stock traded up $3.16 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $208.29. 792,617 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,223,198. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $211.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. 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 firm's 50 day moving average price is $194.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $178.62.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.60 EPS. Darden Restaurants's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is currently 63.13%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants
In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at $843,433.56. The trade was a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were 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 owns 58,836 shares of the company's stock, 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 70,311 shares of company stock worth $13,658,221. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One research 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $202.08.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Darden Restaurants
About Darden Restaurants
(
Free Report)
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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