New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Purchases 44,781 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 41,851.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,888 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,781 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $8,380,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. State Street Corp boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $772,635,000 after acquiring an additional 26,601 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $700,210,000 after buying an additional 170,336 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $459,216,000 after buying an additional 17,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,046,774 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $195,422,000 after purchasing an additional 102,888 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.08.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total transaction of $375,431.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,433.56. The trade was a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 68,022 shares of company stock worth $13,183,803 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $207.90 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $211.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.35 billion, a PE ratio of 23.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.13%.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.