Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Purchased by Greenleaf Trust

Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,761 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $618,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 20.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,085 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 46.6% in the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,698 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 1,494 shares during the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 10.9% in the third quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 23,411 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,353,000 after buying an additional 2,310 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 6.7% in the third quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,125 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 100.9% in the third quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,280 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $613,000 after buying an additional 2,150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $154.55 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $165.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $159.00. The firm has a market cap of $18.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.12, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.25. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $133.36 and a 52-week high of $176.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The restaurant operator reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.02 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.94% and a net margin of 9.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 21st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $1.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 6,831 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.26, for a total value of $1,115,229.06. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,124,959.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 6,831 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.26, for a total transaction of $1,115,229.06. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,124,959.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 7,673 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $1,270,034.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,848,268.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,723 shares of company stock valued at $2,578,122. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on DRI. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $182.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.85.

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.