Dravo Bay LLC Makes New Investment in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Dravo Bay LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,323 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $980,000. Darden Restaurants comprises about 0.4% of Dravo Bay LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.7% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. apricus wealth LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.2% in the third quarter. apricus wealth LLC now owns 1,141 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.4% in the third quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 13,425 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,556,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Glenview Trust co raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the second quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 44 Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.6% during the second quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,467 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DRI. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Mizuho raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $195.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $201.84 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.12 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $203.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

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 paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 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.