Running Oak Capital LLC Has $9.16 Million Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Running Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 16.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 55,760 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,785 shares during the period. Darden Restaurants makes up approximately 1.8% of Running Oak Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Running Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $9,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.9% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 34,638 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,961,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 16.2% during the third quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 27,291 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,909,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.2% during the third quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 11,875 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,701,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 5,101 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $731,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 6,589 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $944,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $734,998.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,994,800.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $734,998.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,994,800.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total transaction of $192,857.99. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,599 shares of company stock valued at $2,197,891 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $182.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.85.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock traded down $3.29 on Thursday, hitting $147.86. 2,573,749 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,168,266. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $159.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a market cap of $17.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.27. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $133.36 and a 12-month high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The restaurant operator reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.01). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 49.94%. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.34 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 21st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $1.31 dividend. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.43%.

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.