Navellier & Associates Inc. Reduces Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Navellier & Associates Inc. decreased its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 56.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,985 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,871 shares during the quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $549,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,438,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $529,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after acquiring an additional 2,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DRI. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $207.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Melius Research raised Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $196.16 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $200.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.72. 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 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 63.49%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

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

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.