Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension Buys Shares of 131,295 Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 131,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $24,161,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,941,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,132 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $760,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. SFE Investment Counsel increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 5,125 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $943,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 45,020 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,239,000 after acquiring an additional 2,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 101,812 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,735,000 after acquiring an additional 4,658 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.8%

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $194.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. The business 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Melius Research raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Mizuho raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants 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.