Shell Asset Management Co. Sells 15,825 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Shell Asset Management Co. cut its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 59.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,606 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 15,825 shares during the quarter. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,019,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,055,185 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,063,609,000 after purchasing an additional 284,814 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,916,944 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,071,746,000 after purchasing an additional 100,270 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.9% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,073,901 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $887,988,000 after buying an additional 75,701 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,134,246 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $680,418,000 after buying an additional 175,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 45.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,917,398 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $417,935,000 after buying an additional 596,863 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho raised Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $235.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $207.00 price objective (down previously from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.78.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $211.42 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $24.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $198.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.11. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, 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 paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 62.89%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total transaction of $1,450,448.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,935,644.80. This represents a 42.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total transaction of $1,471,173.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 44,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,165,474.24. The trade was a 13.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 over the last quarter. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants 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.