Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Has $8.13 Million Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 194.2% during Q1, now holding 39,145 shares valued at over $8 million.
• Darden Restaurants reported $2.98 EPS for the recent quarter, surpassing estimates, along with a 10.6% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company has authorized a $1 billion stock buyback, indicating management's belief that the stock is undervalued.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 194.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,145 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 25,839 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $8,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $530,121,000 after purchasing an additional 39,189 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $300,446,000 after acquiring an additional 4,454 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,441,518 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $269,117,000 after acquiring an additional 158,168 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,282,666 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $239,466,000 after acquiring an additional 116,047 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 46,484.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 928,895 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $192,987,000 after acquiring an additional 926,901 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $252.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Citigroup upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $245.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $225.19.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 11,948 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 147 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,645.76. This trade represents a 98.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 6,949 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.00, for a total value of $1,514,882.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 14,367 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,132,006. This represents a 32.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 43,714 shares of company stock worth $9,609,494 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI stock traded down $1.31 on Monday, reaching $203.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,209,598 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,362,101. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.10 and a 52 week high of $228.27. The company has a market capitalization of $23.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $214.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $202.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.28.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 51.81% and a net margin of 8.69%. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.65 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.57%.

Darden Restaurants announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, June 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.