Nordea Investment Management AB Sells 76,913 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Nordea Investment Management AB lessened its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 93.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,766 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 76,913 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,248,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DRI. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 124.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,471 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $929,000 after acquiring an additional 2,477 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 31.8% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,230 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,164,000 after acquiring an additional 3,677 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 8.9% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 14,489 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,010,000 after acquiring an additional 1,186 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.7% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,013 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,911,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.8% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 9,401 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,953,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DRI shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $215.00 to $205.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $252.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Darden Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.15.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $186.46 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $21.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.99, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.77. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $157.89 and a 12 month high of $228.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $198.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.62.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.40, for a total transaction of $1,094,837.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,691,354.40. The trade was a 28.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 523 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.65, for a total value of $107,031.95. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,109,816.95. This trade represents a 8.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,341 shares of company stock worth $1,438,707. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.