Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Purchases Shares of 2,286 Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,286 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $471,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Union Savings Bank bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total transaction of $463,386.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $867,028.05. The trade was a 34.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $1,846,637.12. Following the transaction, the insider owned 18,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. The trade was a 32.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. BTIG Research increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.12.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $220.39 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $204.67. The firm has a market cap of $25.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 62.43%.

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.