Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 18,733 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $3,853,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Glenview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $316,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,313,000. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,280,000. Equitable Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at approximately $422,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $3,451,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DRI. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.50.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $215.77 on Monday. 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. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $209.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.66. The stock has a market cap of $24.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.25 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 given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 62.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total value of $8,181,354.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 86,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,009,682.76. The trade was a 31.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $2,047,665.30. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $858,864.65. The trade was a 70.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

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.