New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Purchases 44,781 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 41,851.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 44,888 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,781 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $8,380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. MCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,497,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 1,401 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Lion Street Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 20,142 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,760,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,249,066.84. The trade was a 25.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,948.30. This trade represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 68,022 shares of company stock worth $13,183,803 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of DRI stock opened at $207.90 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $211.00. The firm has a market cap of $24.35 billion, a PE ratio of 23.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50-day moving average of $194.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.08.

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.