Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Acquired by Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH

Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,902 shares during the period. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $3,971,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $402,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 19,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,356,000 after buying an additional 2,236 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.4% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,804 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $829,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 19.7% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 780,978 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $170,203,000 after buying an additional 128,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 37.5% during the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 79,345 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,295,000 after acquiring an additional 21,657 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total value of $546,393.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $849,761.28. This represents a 39.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at $3,787,992. This represents a 11.27% 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 valued at $3,948,970 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $202.36 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $207.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $23.30 billion, a PE ratio of 21.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. The firm’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 forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on DRI. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $207.00 price objective (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday. Melius Research upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.33.

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.