Peterson Wealth Services Raises Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Peterson Wealth Services boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,873 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 638 shares during the quarter. Peterson Wealth Services’ holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DRI. CWM LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 34.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,975 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $652,000 after buying an additional 1,018 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter worth about $621,000. CX Institutional raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 9,099 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,493,000 after buying an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. Cabot Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter worth about $201,000. Finally, QV Investors Inc. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 151.6% in the 3rd quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 84,122 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $13,807,000 after buying an additional 50,690 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of DRI opened at $195.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $201.94. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.88. The firm has a market cap of $22.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on DRI shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Stephens upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.52.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Darden Restaurants

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.