Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Bought by MUFG Securities EMEA plc

MUFG Securities EMEA plc boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 112.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,768 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,528 shares during the quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,438,000 after acquiring an additional 2,553 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after buying an additional 2,581 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $198.30 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $197.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.92. The firm has a market cap of $22.71 billion, a PE ratio of 20.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 63.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DRI. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings raised Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.32.

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.