16,082 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Purchased by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 16,082 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $3,313,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Union Savings Bank bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,009,682.76. This trade represents a 31.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total transaction of $463,386.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $867,028.05. This trade represents a 34.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. Robert W. Baird raised Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, August 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Evercore downgraded Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $228.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $230.50.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $215.75 on Wednesday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $209.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $204.70. The firm has a market cap of $24.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.43%.

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.