Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $1.16 Million in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,900 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,157,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake 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 valued at $17,438,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $529,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,581 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. BTIG Research increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.32.

Insider Activity

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

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:DRI opened at $203.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $220.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $202.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $201.82.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 57.80%.

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.