Harbour Investments Inc. Raises Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,928 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the quarter. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $481,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.1% during the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 2,368 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. now owns 1,655 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 89.7% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 7,374 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 3,486 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at $2,057,743.30. The trade was a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $659,601.36. This represents a 59.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $166.78 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.87 and a 52-week high of $176.84. The company has a market cap of $19.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.24, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $163.16 and its 200 day moving average is $153.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.35 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 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the topic of a number of research reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.13.

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.