Strs Ohio Acquires New Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 91,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $18,906,000. Strs Ohio owned approximately 0.08% of Darden Restaurants at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 32.2% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 201 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 15.8% in the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.6% in the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,688 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $766,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.5% in the first quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 4,053 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $849,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 5.5% in the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,157 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.92.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:DRI opened at $212.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.28. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.18 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $207.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $205.85. The stock has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a PE ratio of 23.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.71.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 51.81% and a net margin of 8.69%.The company had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.57%.

Darden Restaurants announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Friday, June 20th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 3.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 4,735 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.78, for a total transaction of $1,059,598.30. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,602 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,835.56. The trade was a 50.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 11,948 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.08, for a total value of $2,653,411.84. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,645.76. This represents a 98.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 45,727 shares of company stock worth $10,022,232. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.