Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Grows Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,843 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 433 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,091,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 8.7% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 5,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $821,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 43.1% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 5,097 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $838,000 after buying an additional 1,536 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 48.2% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 3,999 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $656,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 28.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,678 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 68.7% during the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,644 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,077 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total transaction of $375,431.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,495,072.96. The trade was a 20.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 70,311 shares of company stock valued at $13,658,221. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI stock opened at $192.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $196.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $179.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $211.00.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, TD Securities raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.08.

Darden Restaurants 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.