18,351 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Acquired by Ieq Capital LLC

Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 18,351 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $3,781,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 322,079 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,015,109,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 81.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,486,434,000 after buying an additional 3,613,781 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 68,245 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,110 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,197,257.28. This represents a 9.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. This trade represents a 32.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 in the last 90 days. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Argus increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.12.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $225.56 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $25.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $229.76. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $208.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 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 the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The business’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This is a boost 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 62.43%.

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.