3,340 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Purchased by NewEdge Wealth LLC

NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,340 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $602,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,055,185 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,063,609,000 after buying an additional 284,814 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,916,944 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,071,746,000 after acquiring an additional 100,270 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.9% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,073,901 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $887,988,000 after acquiring an additional 75,701 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,134,246 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $680,418,000 after acquiring an additional 175,811 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171,890 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $214.23 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $202.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.50. The company has a market capitalization of $24.67 billion, a PE ratio of 22.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.64. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.26.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.03 earnings per share. The company’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. Equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DRI. Mizuho upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $195.00 to $235.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $207.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total transaction of $480,954.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at $3,787,992. The trade was a 11.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $849,761.28. This represents a 39.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company 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.