Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Purchased by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 24.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,601 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 3,407 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $3,239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,438,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Stephens raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $194.73 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $22.30 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.25 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $201.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The company’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.