Silvant Capital Management LLC Acquires 19,517 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Silvant Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 2,662.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,250 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,517 shares during the quarter. Silvant Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $3,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,438,000 after acquiring an additional 2,553 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.7% during the second 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 shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the second 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on DRI. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In related news, 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 transaction of $731,819.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $58,296.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $209.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $23.94 billion, a PE ratio of 22.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $228.27. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $198.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.93. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th were paid 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 yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.49%.

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.