NEOS Investment Management LLC Has $2.59 Million Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 56.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,588 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,888 shares during the quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 4,857 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $925,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 34.9% in the third quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 1,331 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 13.7% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,093 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214 shares during the period. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth about $245,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on DRI. Mizuho raised Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $195.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $232.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings raised Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $207.00 target price (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total value of $1,471,173.36. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total value of $1,450,448.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,935,644.80. The trade was a 42.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $213.06 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $201.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.50. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $228.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.03 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th were given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.89%.

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.