Icon Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Icon Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,656 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $857,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $507,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,463,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $849,726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,211 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $144,483,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $113,301,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 239.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 722,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $157,490,000 after purchasing an additional 509,655 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the subject of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 13th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stephens lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE:DRI opened at $211.42 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $198.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $198.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s 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.