Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Shares Bought by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 4th, 2023

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI – Get Rating) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,662 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $85,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 798.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,246 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,996 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 132,713 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,358,000 after acquiring an additional 3,668 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 7,485 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 2,367 shares during the period. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $1,777,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 12,735 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.02, for a total transaction of $1,974,179.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,488,086.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Darden Restaurants news, Chairman Eugene I. Lee, Jr. sold 78,916 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.93, for a total transaction of $12,147,539.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 199,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,763,834.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 12,735 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.02, for a total transaction of $1,974,179.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,488,086.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,611 shares of company stock valued at $14,887,160 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $148.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, March 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $160.23.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE DRI opened at $151.47 on Thursday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $110.96 and a one year high of $155.90. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.32 billion, a PE ratio of 19.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.23.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 23rd. The restaurant operator reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.10. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.19% and a return on equity of 45.62%. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.93 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 7.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.21 per share. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 6th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 63.19%.

About Darden Restaurants

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Darden Restaurants, Inc is a full-service restaurant company, which engages in the provision of restaurant services. It operates through the following segments: Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Fine Dining, and Other Business. The Olive Garden segment is the largest full-service dining Italian restaurant operator.