Strathmore Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires Shares of 2,814 Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Strathmore Capital Advisors 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 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,814 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $544,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,941,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.8% during the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Trust co boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% in the second quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total value of $8,181,354.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 86,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,009,682.76. This represents a 31.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total transaction of $463,386.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at $867,028.05. The trade was a 34.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.4%

DRI stock opened at $222.00 on Thursday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve 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 company has a market capitalization of $25.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.39, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $207.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.19.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DRI. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $228.88.

About Darden Restaurants

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.