Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC Acquires New Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 56,811 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $12,383,000. Darden Restaurants comprises approximately 5.6% of Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Choreo LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 46.0% in the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,376,000 after acquiring an additional 5,119 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $266,000. Foundry Partners LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 93,293 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $19,383,000 after purchasing an additional 10,165 shares in the last quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC now owns 913,398 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $189,768,000 after purchasing an additional 136,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caliber Wealth Management LLC KS bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,646,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $215.00 to $205.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Darden Restaurants from $245.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 19th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, BTIG Research cut their price target on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.82.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of DRI stock opened at $177.54 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $159.40 and a 1-year high of $228.27. 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 stock has a market cap of $20.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $192.96 and a 200-day moving average of $203.66.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced 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). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 52.35%. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 64.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.40, for a total transaction of $1,094,837.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,691,354.40. This represents a 28.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Profile

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.