Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,739 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $770,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Union Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE:DRI opened at $221.81 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $25.30 billion, a PE ratio of 21.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s 50 day moving average is $208.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. The trade was a 32.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.89, for a total transaction of $90,766.27. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,536 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,134,271.04. This represents a 7.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 over the last quarter. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DRI. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. BTIG Research raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.