United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Invests $3.28 Million in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 15,921 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $3,280,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 322,079 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $2,015,109,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,613,781 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $771,020,000 after buying an additional 68,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.6% in 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 buying an additional 991,230 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the business’s 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 sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the company’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 transaction of $2,047,665.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $858,864.65. This represents a 70.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 over the last quarter. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $220.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, August 24th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.50.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI stock opened at $215.77 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $209.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $204.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $24.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.43%.

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.