3,579 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Purchased by Saxon Interests Inc.

Saxon Interests Inc. purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,579 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $588,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 2,188 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.7% in the fourth quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 2,117 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 654 shares in the last quarter. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 700 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Family Legacy Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.9% in the fourth quarter. Family Legacy Inc. now owns 2,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 5,542 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 6,831 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.26, for a total transaction of $1,115,229.06. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,124,959.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 6,831 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.26, for a total value of $1,115,229.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,141 shares in the company, valued at $3,124,959.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP John W. Madonna sold 3,836 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.80, for a total value of $628,336.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,141,849.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:DRI traded up $0.18 on Friday, hitting $167.15. 975,000 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,388,895. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $167.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $157.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $133.36 and a 52 week high of $176.84. The company has a market cap of $19.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.26.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The restaurant operator reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.02 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 49.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.34 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $1.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.43%.

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.