22,784 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Acquired by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 22,784 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $4,694,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,790,128,000 after purchasing an additional 322,079 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,587,939,000 after purchasing an additional 43,965 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $2,015,109,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 81.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,486,434,000 after buying an additional 3,613,781 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,189,868 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $771,020,000 after buying an additional 68,245 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,009,682.76. The trade was a 31.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $1,846,637.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 18,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 in the last three months. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on DRI shares. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. BTIG Research raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Argus upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI stock opened at $222.00 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $25.33 billion, a PE ratio of 21.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $207.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.19. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

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.