Wealthfront Advisers LLC Cuts Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Wealthfront Advisers LLC reduced its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 23.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,136 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,512 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 419.2% during the 2nd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 135 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.7%

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $211.42 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $198.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.11. The company has a market capitalization of $24.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.64. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $228.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 62.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total value of $1,450,448.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,040 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,644.80. The trade was a 42.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total transaction of $480,954.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,787,992. This represents a 11.27% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 over the last ninety days. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on DRI shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Guggenheim lowered their price target on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.78.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.