Peterson Wealth Services Purchases 9,847 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Peterson Wealth Services lifted its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 977.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,854 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 9,847 shares during the period. Peterson Wealth Services’ holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,404,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 33.0% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 23,473 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,319,000 after acquiring an additional 5,830 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at about $6,743,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 177.3% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 12,547 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,388,000 after acquiring an additional 8,022 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 274 shares in the company, valued at $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on DRI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Stephens lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.88.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $210.91 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $198.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $198.46. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The company had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 63.49%.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.