440 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Acquired by Truvestments Capital LLC

Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 440 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $72,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,454,356,000 after buying an additional 8,851,795 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,580,322 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $587,638,000 after buying an additional 123,900 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,352,608 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $386,133,000 after buying an additional 44,464 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,591,541 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $240,832,000 after purchasing an additional 18,899 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 111.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,469,083 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $241,121,000 after purchasing an additional 772,907 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on DRI shares. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. This represents a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $659,601.36. This represents a 59.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $173.84 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $164.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $154.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $177.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.05, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 64.59%.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.