Quantinno Capital Management LP Has $10.95 Million Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 7.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,846 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 3,906 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $10,948,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,790,128,000 after buying an additional 322,079 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,587,939,000 after acquiring an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 81.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,486,434,000 after acquiring an additional 3,613,781 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,189,868 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $771,020,000 after acquiring an additional 68,245 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,918,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $537,001,000 after purchasing an additional 251,246 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DRI. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Stephens raised their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $206.17 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $220.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.52 billion, a PE ratio of 19.86, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $203.80 and its 200-day moving average is $203.14.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid 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 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $2,047,665.30. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $858,864.65. This trade represents a 70.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,009,682.76. This represents a 31.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 59,768 shares of company stock valued at $12,472,786. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.