Sanctuary Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 31,360 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $6,460,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Union Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,110 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.32, for a total transaction of $226,795.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 10,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,197,257.28. The trade was a 9.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $1,846,637.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI opened at $225.56 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $25.73 billion, a PE ratio of 21.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $208.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DRI. Bank of America raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Citigroup upped their price target 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. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $230.12.

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.