Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 9.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,841 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 183 shares during the quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $401,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 124.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,471 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $929,000 after acquiring an additional 2,477 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 31.8% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,230 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,164,000 after acquiring an additional 3,677 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 108.8% during the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 142 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the first quarter valued at approximately $331,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 8.9% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 14,489 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,010,000 after acquiring an additional 1,186 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 523 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.65, for a total transaction of $107,031.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,109,816.95. This trade represents a 8.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.40, for a total value of $1,094,837.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,691,354.40. This represents a 28.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 7,341 shares of company stock valued at $1,438,707. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Darden Restaurants from $245.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 19th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.15.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI stock opened at $187.90 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $199.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $204.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $21.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.77. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $157.89 and a 52-week high of $228.27.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

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

Darden Restaurants Profile

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.