MCF Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 50.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $33,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,454,356,000 after buying an additional 8,851,795 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $772,635,000 after purchasing an additional 26,601 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,580,322 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $587,638,000 after purchasing an additional 123,900 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $459,216,000 after purchasing an additional 17,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,352,608 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $386,133,000 after purchasing an additional 44,464 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $190.52.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $185.69 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $176.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $162.90. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.87 and a 52-week high of $189.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $843,433.56. The trade was a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 45,034 shares of company stock valued at $8,303,692 over the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.