BNP Paribas Has $4.31 Million Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

BNP Paribas decreased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,081 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 187 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $4,309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position 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 worth $700,210,000 after purchasing an additional 170,336 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $530,121,000 after acquiring an additional 39,189 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $300,446,000 after acquiring an additional 4,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,441,518 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $269,117,000 after acquiring an additional 158,168 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on DRI. 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 research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $192.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.38.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 10,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This represents a 18.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total transaction of $375,431.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $203.84 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $211.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $197.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.07.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 63.13%.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.