Flputnam Investment Management Co. Acquires 174 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,781 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC raised its position 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. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 103.2% in the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $843,433.56. This represents a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on DRI. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 3.0 %

NYSE:DRI opened at $200.72 on Monday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $201.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $23.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.99, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $190.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $172.92.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted 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. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio 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.