Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC Acquires 1,443 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,338 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,443 shares during the quarter. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 34.8% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,833 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $629,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on DRI. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned 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 price target of $180.13.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,075,040.80. This trade represents a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total transaction of $981,488.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $659,601.36. The trade was a 59.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $168.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.82 billion, a PE ratio of 19.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $162.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.56. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $176.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.59%.

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.