Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Purchased by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,240 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $696,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the first quarter worth $72,901,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 16,996.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 377,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $61,959,000 after purchasing an additional 375,292 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 71.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 696,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $105,345,000 after purchasing an additional 289,876 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 139.9% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 352,344 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $53,317,000 after buying an additional 205,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 81.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 457,114 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $69,125,000 after buying an additional 204,832 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total transaction of $981,488.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $659,601.36. This represents a 59.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,666 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.00, for a total transaction of $286,552.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $917,448. This trade represents a 23.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have given 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 target price of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $166.78 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $19.60 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $176.84. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $163.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.64. 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 announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 64.59%.

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.