Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Sold by Hamlin Capital Management LLC

Hamlin Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 822,585 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 28,453 shares during the quarter. Darden Restaurants makes up about 3.8% of Hamlin Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Hamlin Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $169,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 81.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,486,434,000 after buying an additional 3,613,781 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 44.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,212,283 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $629,736,000 after buying an additional 991,230 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $144,483,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $113,301,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 42.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,884,339 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $346,756,000 after acquiring an additional 563,237 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $208.51 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $220.65. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $203.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $203.08. 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 earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $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. Analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is presently 62.43%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 sale, the senior vice president directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total value of $8,181,354.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 86,146 shares in the company, valued at $18,009,682.76. This trade represents a 31.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 61,321 shares of company stock worth $12,790,347 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.