DNB Asset Management AS Grows Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

DNB Asset Management AS increased its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 43.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,672 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,587 shares during the quarter. DNB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $5,828,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,890 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,463,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $849,726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,211 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 239.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 722,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $157,490,000 after purchasing an additional 509,655 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $57,948,000. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,839,198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,824,996,000 after purchasing an additional 236,620 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Weiss Ratings lowered Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.9%

DRI stock opened at $194.09 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $22.23 billion, a PE ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a 50 day moving average of $198.09 and a 200 day moving average of $195.25.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.49%.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.