BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC Buys 23,819 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 28.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 108,077 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,819 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC owned about 0.09% of Darden Restaurants worth $18,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 3,237 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $430,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 25.1% in the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the first quarter worth approximately $150,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.9% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 17,090 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,272,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 17.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 776,082 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $103,176,000 after buying an additional 113,548 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, Director Nana Mensah sold 1,219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.03, for a total value of $175,572.57. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,440.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Darden Restaurants news, Director Nana Mensah sold 1,219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.03, for a total value of $175,572.57. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,440.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 1,070 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.43, for a total transaction of $151,330.10. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,167,221.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,255 shares of company stock valued at $741,016. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $155.86 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.75 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.26. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.90 and a twelve month high of $173.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $144.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $155.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 21st. The restaurant operator reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.71 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 47.87%. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 8.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 10th were paid a $1.31 dividend. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 6th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on DRI shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $167.00 to $161.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 14th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 18th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, October 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $159.00 price objective for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.83.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc, through 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 brands.