Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Invests $395,000 in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,900 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $395,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Grove Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 171.4% during the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 133 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 108.8% during the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 142 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Centennial Bank AR purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock traded down $2.57 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $206.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,215,371 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,343,578. The stock has a market cap of $24.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.74. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $213.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $201.00. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $138.21 and a one year high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.42.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.69% and a return on equity of 51.81%. Darden Restaurants's quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.65 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, June 20th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 3.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 67.57%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 733 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.50, for a total transaction of $160,160.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 14,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,139,189.50. The trade was a 4.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 11,948 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.08, for a total transaction of $2,653,411.84. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 147 shares in the company, valued at $32,645.76. This trade represents a 98.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 43,714 shares of company stock worth $9,609,494 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on DRI shares. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut Darden Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $252.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $225.19.

About Darden Restaurants

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.