Leavell Investment Management Inc. Buys 198 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Leavell Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 8.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,623 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Choreo LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 46.0% in the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,376,000 after purchasing an additional 5,119 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.1% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 162,340 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,728,000 after buying an additional 7,902 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 12.4% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 924 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $192,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 124.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,471 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $929,000 after acquiring an additional 2,477 shares during the period. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter worth about $266,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,157 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.70, for a total transaction of $236,837.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 10,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,176,370.40. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.40, for a total value of $1,094,837.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,691,354.40. The trade was a 28.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,341 shares of company stock worth $1,438,707. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $208.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 19th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $252.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.15.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $184.92 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $197.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $204.79. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $157.89 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.04). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.35% and a net margin of 8.90%.The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.75 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.31%.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.