ING Groep NV Buys Shares of 49,932 Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

ING Groep NV bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 49,932 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $9,188,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,790,128,000 after buying an additional 322,079 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,587,939,000 after buying an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 32.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,463,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $849,726,000 after buying an additional 1,102,211 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after buying an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.1% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,904,022 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $362,848,000 after buying an additional 19,819 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DRI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.88.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of DRI opened at $198.11 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $197.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $197.56. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27. The stock has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.80 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were 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 directly owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of Darden Restaurants 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.