Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc Takes Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 1,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 171.4% in the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 133 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 108.8% in the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 142 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Centennial Bank AR purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, SouthState Corp purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.40, for a total transaction of $1,094,837.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,691,354.40. The trade was a 28.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,157 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.70, for a total value of $236,837.90. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,176,370.40. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,674 shares of company stock valued at $1,507,575. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $252.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 19th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Melius Research raised Darden Restaurants to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.59.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $188.00 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $202.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $205.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $21.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.77. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $155.18 and a 12-month high of $228.27.

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

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Friday, June 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 64.31%.

About Darden Restaurants

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.