Maverick Capital Ltd. Purchases New Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,442 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $675,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,790,128,000 after buying an additional 322,079 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 81.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,613,781 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 68,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,918,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $537,001,000 after acquiring an additional 251,246 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $2,047,665.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $858,864.65. This trade represents a 70.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.5%

DRI stock opened at $207.19 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $23.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $220.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $203.23 and a 200-day moving average of $203.09.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. 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.