NavPoint Financial Inc. Buys New Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

NavPoint Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,204 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $362,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 34,638 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,961,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 6,589 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $944,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,171,926 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $167,843,000 after purchasing an additional 3,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 20.9% in the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 54,300 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,777,000 after purchasing an additional 9,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Wedbush cut their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $181.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $734,998.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,994,800.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 7,673 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $1,270,034.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,848,268.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $734,998.05. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,994,800.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,599 shares of company stock worth $2,197,891 over the last three months. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock traded up $1.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $149.25. 1,864,340 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,238,608. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.81 billion, a PE ratio of 17.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.27. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $133.36 and a 12 month high of $176.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $163.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $159.75.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The restaurant operator reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.01). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 49.94%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.34 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.31 per share. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.43%.

Darden Restaurants announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with 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 brand names.