Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Has $13.41 Million Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 17.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,813 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 10,858 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.06% of Darden Restaurants worth $13,407,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 41,851.4% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 44,888 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,380,000 after acquiring an additional 44,781 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $75,137,000. LM Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,133,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 28.1% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 5,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,057,000 after buying an additional 1,241 shares during the period. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 14,366 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,682,000 after buying an additional 1,622 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Stephens boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $209.60 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $195.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.32. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $211.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market cap of $24.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 63.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,249,066.84. The trade was a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at $8,472,092.64. The trade was a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 70,311 shares of company stock valued at $13,658,221 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.