Focused Alpha LLC Takes $488,000 Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Focused Alpha LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,368 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $488,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,438,000 after acquiring an additional 2,553 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 15.7% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on DRI. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Argus lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $228.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total value of $1,780,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,569 shares in the company, valued at $1,799,490. This represents a 49.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $225.36 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $207.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $203.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $1.62 dividend. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 62.43%.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.