Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC Cuts Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC lessened its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,074 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 264 shares during the quarter. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,067,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 103.2% in the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DRI. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $195.06 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $203.12. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $190.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.90. The company has a market capitalization of $22.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.34, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,472,092.64. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.