Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Sells 210 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 210 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,998,200 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $830,666,000 after buying an additional 247,542 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.6% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 3,601,340 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $748,215,000 after acquiring an additional 157,305 shares during the period. Hamlin Capital Management LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 17.6% during the first quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC now owns 913,398 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $189,768,000 after acquiring an additional 136,382 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 6.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 625,449 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $129,943,000 after acquiring an additional 37,878 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the first quarter worth $84,801,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $181.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $201.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $205.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $155.90 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The firm has a market cap of $21.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.77.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.97 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.75 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’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. As a group, research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, June 20th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.31%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.40, for a total value 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 523 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.65, for a total transaction of $107,031.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,109,816.95. The trade was a 8.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,674 shares of company stock worth $1,507,575. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.59.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.