Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Acquires 19,391 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management raised its stake in Darden by 37.8%, buying 19,391 shares to hold 70,634 shares worth about $12.998 million (roughly 0.06% of the company).
• Darden beat quarterly estimates—EPS $2.95 vs. $2.94 and revenue $3.35B vs. $3.33B (revenue +5.9% YoY)—and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 ($6.00 annual, ~3.1% yield).
• Analyst and institutional backdrop: the stock has a consensus "Moderate Buy" (18 Buys, 9 Holds) with an average target of $226.24, and institutional investors own about 93.64% of shares.

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 37.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 70,634 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 19,391 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd owned 0.06% of Darden Restaurants worth $12,998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 98.5% in the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 64,118 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $12,206,000 after purchasing an additional 31,815 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 164.1% during the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $928,000 after purchasing an additional 3,027 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the third quarter worth $2,536,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 33.0% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 23,473 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $4,319,000 after buying an additional 5,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at $6,743,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DRI. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Raymond James Financial restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 20th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $196.16 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $200.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.72.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The company had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.80 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants 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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