Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Buys Shares of 2,493 Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,493 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $409,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 34.8% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,833 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $629,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI upgraded Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $167.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $19.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.34, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $163.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $154.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total transaction of $981,488.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $659,601.36. The trade was a 59.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,666 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.00, for a total transaction of $286,552.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $917,448. This represents a 23.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.