Brooklyn Investment Group Acquires Shares of 790 Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 790 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $130,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.3% in the third quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 58,326 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $9,573,000 after acquiring an additional 771 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 689.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 55,363 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $9,087,000 after acquiring an additional 48,349 shares during the last quarter. Prospector Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.1% in the third quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 65,278 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,714,000 after buying an additional 2,593 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.9% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,615 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 29,524 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,846,000 after buying an additional 11,241 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DRI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $175.04 on Thursday. 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 market cap of $20.57 billion, a PE ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $164.35 and a 200-day moving average of $154.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $177.58.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 64.59%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total value of $542,587.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,005,911.65. This represents a 35.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at $10,075,040.80. The trade was a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

About Darden Restaurants

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.