Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. Sells 3,241 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. reduced its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 36.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,764 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,241 shares during the quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,790,128,000 after buying an additional 322,079 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,587,939,000 after acquiring an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 81.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,486,434,000 after acquiring an additional 3,613,781 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,189,868 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $771,020,000 after acquiring an additional 68,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,918,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $537,001,000 after acquiring an additional 251,246 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,391.84. This trade represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This trade represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.32.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.2%

DRI stock opened at $203.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $23.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $220.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $202.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $201.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The business’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.80%.

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.