Deutsche Bank AG Takes $103.32 Million Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 501,540 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $103,322,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Perigon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $335,000. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $774,000. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $348,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $58,035,000. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth approximately $225,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $217.89 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $229.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $24.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $208.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $204.32.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. KeyCorp increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.88.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $1,780,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,799,490. This represents a 49.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $1,846,637.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares in the company, valued at $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is 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.