New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 4,174 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 105,214 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,174 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $20,029,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Midwest Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,441,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 12.7% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 42,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $9,275,000 after purchasing an additional 4,804 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 74.5% during the third quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 17,195 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,273,000 after purchasing an additional 7,342 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 754.0% during the second quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 2,246 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $490,000 after buying an additional 1,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 19.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 23,352 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,090,000 after buying an additional 3,844 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $208.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 19th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $207.00 target price (down previously from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.00.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of DRI stock opened at $209.48 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.64.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.89%.

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.