Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Purchases New Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 7,647 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,575,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Union Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $220.39 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $229.76. The firm has a market cap of $25.14 billion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Stephens upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. BTIG Research raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 86,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,009,682.76. This trade represents 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 link. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 18,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,915,354.02. The trade was a 32.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.