32,631 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Purchased by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 32,631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $6,722,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,941,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.8% in the 1st quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Trust co boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during 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 analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $228.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.50.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $215.75 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $209.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $204.70. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 62.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.89, for a total transaction of $90,766.27. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,536 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,134,271.04. This trade represents a 7.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $1,846,637.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares in the company, valued at $3,915,354.02. This trade represents a 32.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

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.