3,962 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Acquired by Portfolio Design Labs LLC

Portfolio Design Labs LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 3,962 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $816,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,438,000 after purchasing an additional 2,553 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.7% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,964,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 86,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,009,682.76. This represents a 31.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,110 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.32, for a total transaction of $226,795.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,197,257.28. This represents a 9.36% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 in the last ninety days. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on DRI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $217.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $24.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $208.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $204.32. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.98 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

About Darden Restaurants

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.