638 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Acquired by Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC

Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 638 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $119,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Cibc World Markets Corp raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 18,534 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,460,000 after acquiring an additional 2,387 shares during the period. GWN Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $317,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 40,707 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,600,000 after acquiring an additional 842 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 93,490 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,454,000 after acquiring an additional 10,940 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on DRI. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $843,433.56. The trade was a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.9 %

DRI stock opened at $187.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $191.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.86. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $203.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $21.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.15%.

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.