5,611 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Acquired by Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC

Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 5,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,156,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $2,015,109,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 81.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,486,434,000 after buying an additional 3,613,781 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,212,283 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $629,736,000 after buying an additional 991,230 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $204,099,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $144,483,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Argus upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total value of $1,780,380.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,799,490. The trade was a 49.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total value of $463,386.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at $867,028.05. The trade was a 34.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $221.81 on Monday. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $208.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $204.47. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $229.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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