Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Purchased by Cetera Investment Advisers

Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 75.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,652 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,187 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $8,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BOKF NA raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. BOKF NA now owns 15,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,719,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth $592,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth $370,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 76.1% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,829,000 after acquiring an additional 6,547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 5,257 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $983,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on DRI shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $192.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.38.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, 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 value of $375,431.28. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $198.15 on Monday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $211.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $197.67 and a 200-day moving average of $186.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $23.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 63.13%.

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.