Stevens Capital Management LP Invests $352,000 in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRIFree Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,142 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DRI. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 395.0% during the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. This represents a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 in the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $171.16 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $177.67. The stock has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a PE ratio of 19.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a 50-day moving average of $164.89 and a 200 day moving average of $155.52.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRIGet Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 64.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.88.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)

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