North Dakota State Investment Board Buys New Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,007 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $737,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,941,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Stonebrook Private Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 13,425 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,556,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Glenview Trust co raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, AGP Franklin LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. AGP Franklin LLC now owns 13,137 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,418,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 274 shares in the company, valued at $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the company’s 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 $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 20th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Stephens lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $197.29 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $197.81 and a 200 day moving average of $195.47. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week 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 stock has a market cap of $22.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The company had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio 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.