Nordea Investment Management AB Raises Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 939.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,672 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 62,063 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $12,680,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. Farmers National Bank raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.4% in the third quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 3,719 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $708,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 127.1% in the third quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 55,254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,518,000 after buying an additional 30,922 shares during the last quarter. Saranac Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter worth about $92,000. Finally, Severin Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 14.4% in the third quarter. Severin Investments LLC now owns 2,141 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total value of $1,450,448.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,040 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,644.80. The trade was a 42.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total value of $1,471,173.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 44,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,165,474.24. This trade represents a 13.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $200.35 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $207.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.30. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $228.27. The stock has a market cap of $23.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Melius Research raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.