Choate Investment Advisors Has $412,000 Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Choate Investment Advisors cut its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,207 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 114 shares during the period. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $412,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 93,490 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,454,000 after acquiring an additional 10,940 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 4,897 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $914,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the period. Copperwynd Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 5,330 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $995,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $100,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $5,619,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.00.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI opened at $187.63 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $191.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.86. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $203.12. The company has a market cap of $21.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,433.56. This represents a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129 over the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.