EP Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,168 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,065,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,941,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 44.8% during the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Trust co lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total value 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. This represents a 31.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $1,780,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 8,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,799,490. This represents a 49.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $221.81 on Monday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $208.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $204.47. The company has a market cap of $25.30 billion, a PE ratio of 21.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.60. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.98 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on DRI. Evercore lowered Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target 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. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.88.

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.