Navellier & Associates Inc. Acquires 1,036 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Navellier & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 31.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,372 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,036 shares during the period. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $816,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. ING Groep NV bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $2,802,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,848 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,111 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after purchasing an additional 1,215 shares during the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $1,970,000. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 31.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 4,624 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $191.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $187.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $201.94.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. Equities analysts forecast 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 issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.