Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Invests $131,000 in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 700 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $131,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth about $642,967,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 111.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,469,083 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $241,121,000 after acquiring an additional 772,907 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,048,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 6,456.8% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 185,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $34,556,000 after purchasing an additional 182,275 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $700,210,000 after purchasing an additional 170,336 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DRI. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Wedbush increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.36.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of DRI opened at $199.92 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $192.08 and its 200 day moving average is $176.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $203.47. The company has a market capitalization of $23.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total transaction of $2,888,762.49. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,472,092.64. This represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants 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.