RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $291,000 in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,559 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 103.2% in the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $1,710,875.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,433.56. The trade was a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the sale, the insider now owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 70,311 shares of company stock worth $13,658,221 in the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $209.80 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.87 and a 52-week high of $211.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company’s 50 day moving average is $196.09 and its 200 day moving average is $179.53.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

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 given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

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.