Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Bought by Howland Capital Management LLC

Howland Capital Management LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 5.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,608 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 202 shares during the quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.7% in the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 3,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 19.6% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 111,819 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $23,232,000 after buying an additional 18,329 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the first quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.0% in the first quarter. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. now owns 377,167 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $78,360,000 after acquiring an additional 3,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 29,686 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,168,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 13,569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.45, for a total value of $2,937,010.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 46,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,027,479.15. This represents a 22.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 4,735 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.78, for a total transaction of $1,059,598.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,835.56. The trade was a 50.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 45,727 shares of company stock worth $10,022,232. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DRI. UBS Group increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Stephens boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. KeyCorp upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.19.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $203.52 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.10 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50 day moving average of $214.00 and a 200-day moving average of $202.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.69% and a return on equity of 51.81%. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, June 20th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 67.57%.

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.