Capital International Inc. CA Has $24.99 Million Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Capital International Inc. CA lifted its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 36.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 133,842 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,531 shares during the period. Capital International Inc. CA’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $24,987,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 103.2% during the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.37, for a total value of $2,390,653.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,684,637.36. The trade was a 47.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. This trade represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 45,264 shares of company stock valued at $9,058,583. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.38.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $200.03 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $211.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.10. The company has a market capitalization of $23.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

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.