Mather Group LLC. Makes New $151,000 Investment in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 922 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $151,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 55.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,168,604 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $167,359,000 after purchasing an additional 418,860 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,601,000. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 129.6% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 553,721 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $90,976,000 after purchasing an additional 312,531 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,321,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 13.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,669,789 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $239,148,000 after purchasing an additional 202,139 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $734,998.05. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,994,800.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $734,998.05. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,994,800.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 7,673 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $1,270,034.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,848,268.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,599 shares of company stock valued at $2,197,891 over the last quarter. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $167.00 price target (down previously from $175.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Barclays decreased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.81.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI stock opened at $154.29 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $150.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $159.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $18.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.29. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $133.36 and a 52-week high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The restaurant operator reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.02 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.94% and a net margin of 9.24%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.34 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 21st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.43%.

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.