Intech Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 177.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,547 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,022 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,388,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Hager Investment Management Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.9% in the third quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC now owns 1,627 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 8,236 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,568,000 after acquiring an additional 1,059 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 42.6% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 138,731 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,409,000 after acquiring an additional 41,464 shares in the last quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 21.7% during the third quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 3,156 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $601,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares during the period. Finally, Baldwin Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.5% during the third quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 10,723 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,041,000 after acquiring an additional 2,630 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total value of $1,471,173.36. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total value of $480,954.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,787,992. The trade was a 11.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970 in the last ninety days. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. Raymond James Financial reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a 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 research report on Friday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $232.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.78.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.1%

DRI opened at $210.00 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $24.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $228.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $205.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.81.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its 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). The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were given 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 yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.89%.

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.