Korea Investment CORP Makes New $9.94 Million Investment in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Posted by Geri Gentry on Aug 25th, 2026

Korea Investment CORP purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI – Free Report) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 48,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $9,943,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,438,000 after acquiring an additional 2,553 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.7% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total value of $8,181,354.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,009,682.76. This represents a 31.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $225.56 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $229.76. The company has a market cap of $25.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $208.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $204.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Evercore lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.12.

View Our Latest Report on DRI

Darden Restaurants Profile

(Free Report)

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.