Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Raises Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 555.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $64,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DRI. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 296.0% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $61,000. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $66,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.77.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $217.63 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $203.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $192.75. The company has a market capitalization of $25.47 billion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.75. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $218.22. 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) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.60 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,206.56. This represents a 18.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of Darden Restaurants 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 in the company, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.