1,172 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Acquired by Waterloo Capital L.P.

Waterloo Capital L.P. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 1,172 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 11,523 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 16.8% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 10,619 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,206,000 after purchasing an additional 1,527 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 15.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 51,410 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,681,000 after buying an additional 6,758 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 8.1% during the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,029 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,045,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 64,620 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $13,425,000 after buying an additional 1,606 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The shares were 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 $2,691,354.40. This trade represents a 28.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on DRI. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $215.00 to $205.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $252.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Darden Restaurants from $255.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.64.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI stock opened at $179.44 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $183.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $201.28. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.67 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The stock has a market cap of $20.87 billion, a PE ratio of 19.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.35% and a net margin of 8.90%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.75 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 64.31%.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.