NewEdge Wealth LLC Has $1.47 Million Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 57.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,505 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,733 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Bellwether Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the first quarter worth $1,265,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 58,432 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,455,000 after buying an additional 2,328 shares in the last quarter. Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth about $326,000. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth about $219,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,265,473 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $248,083,000 after acquiring an additional 33,965 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.0%

DRI opened at $196.28 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $22.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.31. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $202.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $203.00. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $220.65.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Equities research 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $2,047,665.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $858,864.65. The trade was a 70.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DRI. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. 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 note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.88.

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.