Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Lowers Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lowered its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 25.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 670,435 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 228,207 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $131,432,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Union Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 926.7% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE:DRI opened at $196.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $202.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $202.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $220.65.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.43%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $2,047,665.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at $858,864.65. This trade represents a 70.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Stephens boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Evercore cut Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants 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.