Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 7,300 Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 7,300 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,199,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 17,527 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,880,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 65.1% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 180 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 99.2% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 6,467 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,063,000 after purchasing an additional 3,221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 8,428.8% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 20,469 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,363,000 after buying an additional 20,229 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on DRI shares. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com cut Darden Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total value of $192,857.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,281 shares in the company, valued at $993,717.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 7,673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $1,270,034.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,208 shares in the company, valued at $2,848,268.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total value of $192,857.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $993,717.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,723 shares of company stock valued at $2,578,122 over the last quarter. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $154.55 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $159.00. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $133.36 and a 12 month high of $176.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.12, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The restaurant operator reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by ($0.01). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 49.94%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.34 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 61.43%.

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 21st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants 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.