Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Holdings Raised by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 19.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 761,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 122,045 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.66% of Darden Restaurants worth $140,072,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 926.7% during the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Wealth Watch Advisors INC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of DRI stock opened at $198.11 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $197.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $197.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The company had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 63.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on DRI. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,391.84. This trade represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.