NewEdge Wealth LLC Invests $1.55 Million in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,535 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,552,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth $2,404,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 23,473 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,319,000 after buying an additional 5,830 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,587,939,000 after buying an additional 43,965 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 313.9% during the fourth quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,598 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,502,000 after buying an additional 10,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 61,922 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,395,000 after buying an additional 5,348 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,009,682.76. This trade represents a 31.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 32.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on DRI shares. Guggenheim raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $221.81 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $208.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $204.45. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $229.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.37, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. The company 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%.Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.43%.

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.