Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Sold by MGB Wealth Management LLC

MGB Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 66.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,546 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,055 shares during the period. MGB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 419.2% during the 2nd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 135 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DRI. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $232.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.78.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $214.93 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $24.75 billion, a PE ratio of 22.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $203.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.85. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. Equities analysts forecast 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 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.89%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the company’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 transaction of $1,471,173.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 44,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,165,474.24. This represents a 13.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total transaction of $546,393.60. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants 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.