Bellwether Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI – Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,454 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,265,000.
Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,438,000 after purchasing an additional 2,553 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth about $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after buying an additional 2,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
DRI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research 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 report on Friday, June 26th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Evercore cut Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.88.
Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.0%
Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $192.93 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $22.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $220.65. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $202.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $202.86.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.43%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $2,047,665.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $858,864.65. This trade represents a 70.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Darden Restaurants 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.
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