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

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

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Union Savings Bank bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 926.7% during the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Argus boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Bank of America increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.88.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $2,047,665.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 86,146 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders have sold 59,768 shares of company stock worth $12,472,786 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $206.17 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $23.52 billion, a PE ratio of 19.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $203.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $203.14. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $220.65.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

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.