GSA Capital Partners LLP Acquires New Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,202 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $660,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Family Legacy Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at $1,676,000. SFE Investment Counsel purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,167,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth $4,403,000. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $423,000. Finally, Tema ETFs LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.7% during the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 2,675 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on DRI shares. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE:DRI opened at $222.00 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $229.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $207.95 and a 200-day moving average of $204.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.33 billion, a PE ratio of 21.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $2,047,665.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $858,864.65. The trade was 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 at this link. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $1,846,637.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 18,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. The trade was a 32.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Darden Restaurants

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.