Kingsview Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,303 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $681,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,790,128,000 after acquiring an additional 322,079 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $2,015,109,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 81.0% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,189,868 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $771,020,000 after purchasing an additional 68,245 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,212,283 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $629,736,000 after purchasing an additional 991,230 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.1%

DRI stock opened at $215.77 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $24.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $209.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.66. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. 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 dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.43%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $2,047,665.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $858,864.65. This represents a 70.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total value of $1,780,380.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,799,490. The trade was a 49.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stephens raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup lifted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.50.

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.