Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Increases Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Brandywine Global Investment Management boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 68% in the fourth quarter, ending with 161,426 shares valued at about $29.7 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains constructive: Darden has 18 Buy ratings and 9 Hold ratings, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” target price of $226.88.
• The company recently beat quarterly expectations with EPS of $2.95 and revenue of $3.35 billion, and it continues to pay a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share.

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 68.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 161,426 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 65,321 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned about 0.14% of Darden Restaurants worth $29,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 139 shares during the period. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $226.88.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $196.16 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $197.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $197.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $228.27. 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 stock has a market cap of $22.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. The business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.

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