TIAA Trust National Association Has $262,000 Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

TIAA Trust National Association raised its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,401 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the quarter. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 21.0% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,448 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,207,000 after buying an additional 2,330 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 14,534 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,385,000 after acquiring an additional 1,464 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,615 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $429,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 240,488 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $39,471,000 after purchasing an additional 37,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.3% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 74,065 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,156,000 after purchasing an additional 3,041 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on 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 target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,311 shares of company stock valued at $13,658,221. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $204.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $211.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $194.62 and a 200-day moving average of $178.31.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

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.