Todd Burrowes Sells 7,103 Shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Stock

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total value of $1,471,173.36. Following the transaction, the insider owned 44,252 shares in the company, valued at $9,165,474.24. This represents a 13.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of DRI stock opened at $214.57 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27. The company has a market cap of $24.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.64. 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 50 day simple moving average of $184.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued 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). The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 62.89%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.6% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,839,198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,824,996,000 after purchasing an additional 236,620 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,055,185 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,063,609,000 after buying an additional 284,814 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,916,944 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,071,746,000 after buying an additional 100,270 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.8% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,073,901 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $887,988,000 after buying an additional 75,701 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $207.00 price objective (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.00.

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.