Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Invests $646,000 in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,138 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $646,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DRI. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,790,128,000 after buying an additional 322,079 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,587,939,000 after buying an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 81.0% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,189,868 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $771,020,000 after acquiring an additional 68,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 44.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 991,230 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.89, for a total transaction of $90,766.27. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,536 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,134,271.04. This represents a 7.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total transaction of $463,386.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at $867,028.05. This trade represents a 34.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. 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. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $225.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $25.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $207.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $203.88. 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 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. The company 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%.Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $1.62 dividend. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 62.43%.

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.