Meridian Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 13,062 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $2,404,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,438,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $529,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,151,000 after buying an additional 2,581 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,964,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Melius Research raised Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $199.30 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $199.15 and its 200-day moving average is $194.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.83 billion, a PE ratio of 21.09, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 63.49%.

Darden Restaurants Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.