2,257 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Acquired by Whalen Wealth Management Inc.

Whalen Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 2,257 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $465,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at $7,004,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth $1,288,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth $6,460,000. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the second quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 50,700 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,445,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $15,370,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $225.56 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $229.76. 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 company has a market capitalization of $25.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $208.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.61.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total transaction of $463,386.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $867,028.05. This trade represents a 34.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.89, for a total transaction of $90,766.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,536 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,134,271.04. This represents a 7.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DRI shares. UBS Group increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $230.12.

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.