Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Buys 91 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 7.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,374 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 91 shares during the quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $285,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,688 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $766,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 4,053 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $849,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,157 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,119 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $245.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Darden Restaurants to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.19.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 5,780 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.22, for a total value of $1,284,431.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,012,212.10. This trade represents a 55.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 6,949 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.00, for a total value of $1,514,882.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 14,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,132,006. This represents a 32.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 45,727 shares of company stock worth $10,022,232. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $208.49 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.74 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The business has a 50-day moving average of $211.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $204.45. The company has a market capitalization of $24.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.28.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 51.81% and a net margin of 8.69%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.65 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 67.57%.

Darden Restaurants announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, June 20th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.