Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. Takes $1.66 Million Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 9,005 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,657,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 926.7% during the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Wealth Watch Advisors INC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the third quarter worth $39,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other 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 transaction of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,391.84. This trade represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of DRI opened at $203.48 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $228.27. The company has a market cap of $23.31 billion, a PE ratio of 21.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day moving average of $197.67 and a 200 day moving average of $195.64. 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 (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.49%.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.