Apollon Wealth Management LLC Buys 4,236 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 204.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,236 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 14,912 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,784,000 after acquiring an additional 1,451 shares during the last quarter. QV Investors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 87,702 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,373,000 after purchasing an additional 3,580 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,901,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,944,000 after purchasing an additional 8,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $459,216,000 after buying an additional 17,497 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,433.56. This represents a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:DRI opened at $195.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $22.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $183.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $167.88. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $201.94.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.52.

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.