Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Sold by QV Investors Inc.

QV Investors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 37.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,682 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 19,800 shares during the period. QV Investors Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $7,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 31.8% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,230 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,164,000 after buying an additional 3,677 shares during the period. Choreo LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 46.0% during the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,376,000 after buying an additional 5,119 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.1% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 162,340 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,728,000 after buying an additional 7,902 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 12.4% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 924 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $192,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 124.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,471 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $929,000 after buying an additional 2,477 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,157 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.70, for a total value of $236,837.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 10,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,176,370.40. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.40, for a total transaction of $1,094,837.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,691,354.40. The trade was a 28.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,341 shares of company stock valued at $1,438,707 in the last ninety days. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $184.92 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $157.89 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $197.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $204.74. The stock has a market cap of $21.51 billion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.77.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.04). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 52.35%. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.75 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 64.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $252.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $245.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 19th. BTIG Research reduced their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 19th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.15.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.