Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC Acquires 3,370 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 105.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,370 shares during the quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,068,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.3% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 6,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 851,299 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $142,229,000 after buying an additional 27,649 shares during the last quarter. Veritable L.P. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 56.6% in the second quarter. Veritable L.P. now owns 3,242 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $542,000 after buying an additional 1,172 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 28.3% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC now owns 108,077 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,058,000 after acquiring an additional 23,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 24.4% in the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 129,708 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $21,672,000 after acquiring an additional 25,475 shares during the period. 94.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on DRI. TD Cowen restated an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 21st. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, September 21st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, October 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $159.00 target price for the company. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $167.83.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 2.3 %

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $154.79 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.40. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.90 and a fifty-two week high of $173.06. The stock has a market cap of $18.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.28, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $144.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.50.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 21st. The restaurant operator reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.71 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 47.87% and a net margin of 9.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 8.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 10th were paid a $1.31 dividend. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 6th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, Director Nana Mensah sold 1,219 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.03, for a total value of $175,572.57. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,440.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Darden Restaurants news, Director Nana Mensah sold 1,219 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.03, for a total transaction of $175,572.57. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,440.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,966 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.62, for a total value of $414,112.92. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,143 shares in the company, valued at $2,393,505.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,255 shares of company stock worth $741,016 over the last three months. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc, through 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 brands.