Quantbot Technologies LP Acquires New Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 3,448 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $710,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Union Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $1,780,380.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,799,490. The trade was a 49.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 86,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,009,682.76. This represents a 31.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 in the last three months. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Eighteen equities 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, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.12.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $218.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $209.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $204.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $229.76.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a $1.62 dividend. This is a boost 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 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

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.