Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Bought by GYL Financial Synergies LLC

GYL Financial Synergies LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,696 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $711,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DRI. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the first quarter worth about $72,901,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $58,601,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 129.6% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 553,721 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $90,976,000 after buying an additional 312,531 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,202,711 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $368,183,000 after buying an additional 234,410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,809,155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $297,244,000 after buying an additional 169,642 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total value of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares in the company, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total value of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on DRI shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, June 21st. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $177.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. BTIG Research upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.50.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI traded up $0.96 during trading on Friday, reaching $154.86. The company had a trading volume of 8,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,221,691. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $146.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $154.62. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $133.36 and a fifty-two week high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.48 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 65.73%.

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.