Vontobel Holding Ltd. Has $722,000 Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 27.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,475 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $722,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 852 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 20.9% during the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 979 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the first quarter worth $134,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.0% during the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 11,867 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,465,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.2% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 23,853 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,956,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 13,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were 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 directly owned 46,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,027,479.15. This trade represents a 22.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 5,780 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.22, for a total transaction of $1,284,431.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,012,212.10. This represents a 55.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 43,714 shares of company stock worth $9,609,494 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $220.27 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $212.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $199.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.81, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.28.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, June 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 63.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.60.

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.