First Horizon Advisors Inc. Has $451,000 Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Navellier & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 31.1% during the 4th quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 4,372 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $816,000 after purchasing an additional 1,036 shares during the period. ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,802,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,848 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,111 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after acquiring an additional 1,215 shares during the period. Finally, Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,970,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp increased 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $194.83 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $201.94. The company has a 50 day moving average of $188.45 and a 200-day moving average of $171.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.