Sienna Gestion Grows Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Sienna Gestion raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 1,164.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,723 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,187 shares during the quarter. Sienna Gestion’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $7,762,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after buying an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 820.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 706,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $153,977,000 after acquiring an additional 629,669 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 45.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,917,398 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $417,935,000 after acquiring an additional 596,863 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 192.6% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 880,765 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $191,980,000 after acquiring an additional 579,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $125,521,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total transaction of $546,393.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at $849,761.28. The trade was a 39.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total transaction of $1,450,448.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,935,644.80. The trade was a 42.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 in the last quarter. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $203.74 on Monday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $228.27. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $206.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.46 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 62.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. Mizuho raised Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Citigroup increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $234.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.89.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.