Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Holdings Raised by Grove Bank & Trust

Grove Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 171.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 133 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $28,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $451,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 1,401 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $262,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,527 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,019,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,199 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $597,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobi Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 9,624 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,797,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total transaction of $375,431.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This represents a 18.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492 over the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI opened at $222.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $26.07 billion, a PE ratio of 25.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $207.08 and a 200-day moving average of $195.23. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.87 and a 52-week high of $226.98.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.68% and a net margin of 8.96%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Darden Restaurants from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, 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 research report on Monday, April 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.38.

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.