Marks Group Wealth Management Inc Has $6.87 Million Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc trimmed its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 11.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 35,036 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,414 shares during the quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $6,868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 926.7% during the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Union Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Evercore lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.88.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $2,047,665.30. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $858,864.65. The trade was a 70.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 274 shares in the company, valued at $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $195.99 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $202.72 and its 200 day moving average is $202.56. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $220.65. 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 stock has a market cap of $22.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.98 EPS. 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 fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 62.43%.

About Darden Restaurants

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.