Mizuho Markets Americas LLC Sells 46,713 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC lessened its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 110,487 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 46,713 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC owned about 0.09% of Darden Restaurants worth $21,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Allstate Corp bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $748,000. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.9% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 26,989 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,138,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 29.7% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 1,202 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.7% during the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 2,817 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,811.1% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,892 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 1,793 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.00.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $214.96 on Monday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $228.27. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $185.35 and its 200 day moving average is $194.39. The stock has a market cap of $24.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.39.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.03 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.89%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total transaction of $1,471,173.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 44,252 shares in the company, valued at $9,165,474.24. This trade represents a 13.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total transaction of $546,393.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,761.28. This trade represents a 39.14% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.