Stonebrook Private Inc. Has $898,000 Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Stonebrook Private Inc. cut its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 63.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 8,545 shares during the quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $298,000. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 7,458 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,372,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $397,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 18,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 130,123 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $23,945,000 after purchasing an additional 10,436 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $200.66 on Wednesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $197.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $197.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. The business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.88.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.