Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys New Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Posted by Geri Gentry on Aug 27th, 2026

Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI – Free Report) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 218,480 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $44,943,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Union Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Stephens increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. 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, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.12.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $218.95 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $209.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $204.71. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $229.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. 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 currently 62.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total value of $1,780,380.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,569 shares in the company, valued at $1,799,490. The trade was a 49.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,134,271.04. This represents a 7.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

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.