Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Grows Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 107,971 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,105 shares during the quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $17,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. ESL Trust Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DRI shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.13.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, Director Nana Mensah sold 1,171 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.90, for a total transaction of $201,294.90. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10 shares in the company, valued at $1,719. The trade was a 99.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total value of $542,587.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,005,911.65. The trade was a 35.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of DRI stock traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $168.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 134,507 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,214,198. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $176.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $162.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly 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). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 64.59%.

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.