Legal & General Group Plc Buys Shares of 576,786 Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 576,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $118,824,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,438,000 after acquiring an additional 2,553 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on DRI shares. BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Bank of America raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.50.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $211.15 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $208.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $204.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.34, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $229.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was 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 3.1%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $1,846,637.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total value of $463,386.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at $867,028.05. This trade represents a 34.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.