11,522 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Acquired by Mystic Asset Management Inc.

Mystic Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 11,522 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $2,374,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Union Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $217.89 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $229.76. The stock has a market cap of $24.86 billion, a PE ratio of 20.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $208.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $204.32. 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 (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given 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 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Evercore downgraded Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.88.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $2,047,665.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at $858,864.65. This represents a 70.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,915,354.02. The trade was a 32.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 over the last ninety days. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants 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.