Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Bought by MGB Wealth Management LLC

MGB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 16.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,050 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 580 shares during the quarter. MGB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DRI. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 103.2% during the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at $843,433.56. The trade was a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.3 %

DRI stock opened at $194.75 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $184.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $168.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.31, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $201.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.15%.

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.