Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Holdings Raised by Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 8.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,026 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 810 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,083,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $700,210,000 after acquiring an additional 170,336 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 39,189 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $300,446,000 after buying an additional 4,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,441,518 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $269,117,000 after buying an additional 158,168 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $192.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wedbush boosted their target price 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. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $178.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.69.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 3.3%

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $224.63 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $206.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.83. 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 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $225.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.75.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for 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%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total value of $375,431.28. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.