Saxon Interests Inc. Grows Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Saxon Interests Inc. lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,191 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 237 shares during the quarter. Saxon Interests Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 18,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,973,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 39.7% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 30,344 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,986,000 after purchasing an additional 8,619 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 968,029 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $159,047,000 after purchasing an additional 65,223 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth $3,901,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 206.5% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 49,082 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,204,000 after purchasing an additional 33,066 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DRI. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $191.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. TD Cowen cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $176.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.95.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE DRI traded down $0.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $143.36. The company had a trading volume of 768,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,216,941. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $133.36 and a 52 week high of $176.84. The business’s 50-day moving average is $145.81 and its 200-day moving average is $154.87. The stock has a market cap of $17.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.04. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 65.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,649,483.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.