Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Purchased by Alps Advisors Inc.

Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 4.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 136,067 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,266 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $26,295,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the third quarter valued at approximately $167,000. Calamos Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.1% during the third quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 50,774 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $9,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,027 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,723 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,072,000 after acquiring an additional 1,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.9% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 32,369 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,255,000 after purchasing an additional 913 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on DRI. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $236.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 25th. Seaport Research Partners started coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $248.00 to $247.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $232.82.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.4%

NYSE DRI opened at $225.54 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $211.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.25. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $233.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The company has a market capitalization of $25.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.65.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 24th. The restaurant operator reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.05. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.21 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.85% and a return on equity of 58.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.97 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 63.34%.

Darden Restaurants Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a full-service restaurant company that owns and operates a portfolio of dining brands in the United States. Its restaurants offer a range of cuisines and dining formats, including Italian-American, steakhouse, seafood, casual dining and polished casual concepts.

The company’s portfolio includes Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze and Eddie V’s. These brands serve meals prepared for on-premises dining, as well as takeout and other off-premises occasions.

Darden traces its history to 1968, when founder William “Bill” Darden opened the first Red Lobster restaurant in Lakeland, Florida.