First Bank & Trust Takes Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

First Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 2,822 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $581,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Union Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 44.8% in the 1st quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $218.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $204.90 and its 200 day moving average is $203.19. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $220.65.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion during 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%.Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Sell-side 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. 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. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.32, for a total transaction of $226,795.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 10,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,197,257.28. The trade was a 9.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984 in the last quarter. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on DRI shares. KeyCorp increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. BTIG Research boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Bank of America upped 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. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.88.

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.