Teacher Retirement System of Texas Boosts Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 88.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 32,303 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 15,173 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $7,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DRI. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $481,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 924 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $192,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 24.3% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 16,616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,452,000 after buying an additional 3,245 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 23,853 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,956,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 27.6% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 3,475 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $722,000 after buying an additional 752 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.40, for a total transaction of $1,094,837.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,691,354.40. The trade was a 28.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $245.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, BTIG Research reduced their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.82.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $178.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $20.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $195.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $204.36. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $157.89 and a 1-year high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.01 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 52.35%. The business’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.75 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 64.31%.

Darden Restaurants Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with 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 brand names.