3,442 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Purchased by Maverick Capital Ltd.

Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 3,442 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $675,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 7.5% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 55,846 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,948,000 after buying an additional 3,906 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 5,570 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,092,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 35.8% in the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 6,043 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at $419,000. Finally, Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 7,495 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $207.19 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $203.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $203.09. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $220.65. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $23.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for 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%.The company’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DRI. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.