RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 1,559 Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,559 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares of the company's stock, valued at $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at $843,433.56. The trade was a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 70,311 shares of company stock worth $13,658,221. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on DRI shares. Wedbush boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI traded down $8.40 during trading on Friday, reaching $192.28. 1,913,028 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,278,849. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $211.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $196.47 and a 200-day moving average of $179.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced 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 return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.60 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.13%.

Darden Restaurants 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.