Legal & General Group Plc Makes New $118.82 Million Investment in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 576,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $118,824,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.51% of Darden Restaurants as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DRI. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,941,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 44.8% during the first 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 period. Finally, Glenview Trust co boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.9% in the second quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $1,780,380.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,799,490. This represents a 49.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.89, for a total transaction of $90,766.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,536 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,134,271.04. This trade represents a 7.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $211.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.09 billion, a PE ratio of 20.34, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $208.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $204.67. 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 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.98 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 62.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, June 22nd. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $228.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.50.

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.