Flputnam Investment Management Co. Has $14.36 Million Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Flputnam Investment Management Co. cut its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 69,679 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,703 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. owned about 0.06% of Darden Restaurants worth $14,355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Union Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, June 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $228.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.50.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI stock opened at $215.77 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year 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 firm has a market cap of $24.62 billion, a PE ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $209.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $204.75.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 62.43%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 86,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,009,682.76. This represents a 31.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $2,047,665.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $858,864.65. The trade was a 70.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.