Hills Bank & Trust Co Invests $100,000 in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Hills Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 537 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $100,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 8,851,795 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $772,635,000 after buying an additional 26,601 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $700,210,000 after buying an additional 170,336 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $642,967,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $459,216,000 after buying an additional 17,497 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on DRI shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $186.27 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $21.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $203.12. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.51.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.