Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Purchased by Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC

Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,228 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the period. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,349,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 14,912 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451 shares during the last quarter. QV Investors Inc. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 87,702 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,373,000 after buying an additional 3,580 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.1% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,901,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,944,000 after purchasing an additional 8,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $459,216,000 after buying an additional 17,497 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,433.56. The trade was a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on DRI. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on 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 Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $194.83 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.87 and a 52-week high of $201.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.39.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.15%.

About Darden Restaurants

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.