Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Position Raised by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 12.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,907 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,870 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $6,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 78.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $507,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 32.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,463,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $849,726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,211 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 239.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 722,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $157,490,000 after purchasing an additional 509,655 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the third quarter worth approximately $57,948,000. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.6% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,839,198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,824,996,000 after purchasing an additional 236,620 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on DRI. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $207.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.24.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,391.84. This trade represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE DRI opened at $194.53 on Wednesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $22.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.58, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $200.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.65.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.80 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 63.49%.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.