Norges Bank Acquires New Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 402,467 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $75,137,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 0.34% of Darden Restaurants at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 worth $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 103.2% in the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at $843,433.56. This represents a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value 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. The trade was a 25.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,311 shares of company stock worth $13,658,221 in the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on DRI. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Darden Restaurants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wedbush boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. One equities 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 4.2 %

Shares of NYSE:DRI traded down $8.40 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $192.28. 1,913,028 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,278,849. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $196.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $179.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $211.00. The company has a market cap of $22.53 billion, a PE ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.60 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. 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.