Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC Makes New $270,000 Investment in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,445 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,454,356,000 after acquiring an additional 8,851,795 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 111.0% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 16,996.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 377,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $61,959,000 after acquiring an additional 375,292 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,048,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,580,322 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $587,638,000 after acquiring an additional 123,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % 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 in the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $193.64 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $184.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.61. The company has a market cap of $22.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.18, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $201.94.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DRI. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.52.

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.