Blueshift Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 4,893 Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,893 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,067,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 17.7% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 98,839 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,535,000 after buying an additional 14,888 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 13.5% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 29,419 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,112,000 after acquiring an additional 3,494 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 3,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 63,900 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,276,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 7,448 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,547,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 24th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $245.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $255.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.64.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $173.95 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $200.48. The company has a market cap of $20.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $159.67 and a 12-month high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.35% and a net margin of 8.90%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.75 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.31%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 5,661 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.40, for a total value of $1,094,837.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 13,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,691,354.40. This represents a 28.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.