Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Purchases 28,463 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 898,642 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 28,463 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.78% of Darden Restaurants worth $165,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of DRI. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $17,438,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.7% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $4,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $3,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $55,391.84. This trade represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE DRI opened at $209.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $198.93. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $228.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. Bank of America raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Darden Restaurants from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $227.16.

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.

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