Brooklyn Investment Group Makes New $130,000 Investment in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 790 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $130,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 34.8% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI raised Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In related news, Director Nana Mensah sold 1,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.90, for a total value of $201,294.90. Following the sale, the director now owns 10 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,719. This trade represents a 99.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total transaction of $981,488.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $659,601.36. This represents a 59.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 in the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of DRI opened at $175.04 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $154.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $177.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.59%.

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.