B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 259 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 259 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. Willner & Heller LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $213,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,809,155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $297,244,000 after acquiring an additional 169,642 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,418,592 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $233,075,000 after acquiring an additional 6,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American International Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 35,430 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,821,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DRI. Raymond James upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $182.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $176.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.76.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.7 %

DRI opened at $153.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.29. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $133.36 and a one year high of $176.84. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $150.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $159.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.25.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.04. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 65.73%.

Darden Restaurants declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 21st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction 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 approximately $2,994,800.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $734,998.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,179 shares in the company, valued at $2,994,800.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 7,673 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $1,270,034.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.85% 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.