Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Bought by Whipplewood Advisors LLC

Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 296.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $41,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DRI. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 1,401 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,527 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,019,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,199 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $597,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Lion Street Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 20,142 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,760,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,249,066.84. This represents a 25.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total value of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,206.56. This represents a 18.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on DRI shares. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $192.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.4%

DRI stock opened at $216.31 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $25.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $202.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $218.22.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.13%.

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.