Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Insider John Wilkerson Sells 2,258 Shares

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) insider John Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total value of $480,954.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,787,992. The trade was a 11.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.8%

DRI stock opened at $207.27 on Thursday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $187.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.36.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 62.89%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,890 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,463,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $849,726,000 after buying an additional 1,102,211 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 820.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 706,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $153,977,000 after acquiring an additional 629,669 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 45.2% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,917,398 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $417,935,000 after acquiring an additional 596,863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 192.6% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 880,765 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $191,980,000 after acquiring an additional 579,759 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $207.00 price objective (down previously from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.30.

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.