Norges Bank Acquires New Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 402,467 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $75,137,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 9.9% during 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. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 8.7% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 5,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $821,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.5% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 21,843 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,585,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the third quarter worth about $420,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 43.1% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 5,097 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $838,000 after buying an additional 1,536 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DRI. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.08.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at $843,433.56. The trade was a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total value of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,206.56. This represents a 18.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 70,311 shares of company stock valued at $13,658,221. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:DRI opened at $209.80 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $24.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $211.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $196.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.53.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

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.