Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Purchases Shares of 9,618 Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 9,618 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,981,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Union Savings Bank bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total value of $463,386.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $867,028.05. This represents a 34.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,009,682.76. This represents a 31.24% 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 three months. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.0%

DRI opened at $225.36 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $207.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $203.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.60. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $229.76.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were paid 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 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 62.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DRI. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Evercore lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.88.

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.