Crestline Management LP Acquires New Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Crestline Management LP purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,654 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $682,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 44,652 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,336,000 after purchasing an additional 19,187 shares during the period. BOKF NA boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. BOKF NA now owns 15,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,719,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $592,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $370,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 76.1% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,829,000 after buying an additional 6,547 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DRI. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $192.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $198.15 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $197.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $186.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $211.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.13%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total value of $474,418.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. The trade was a 18.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.