Aberdeen Group plc Sells 14,750 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Aberdeen Group plc trimmed its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 67,074 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 14,750 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.06% of Darden Restaurants worth $12,730,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 1,540 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $336,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 57.8% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 1,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $533,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,764 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 66.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 21,283 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,600,000 after acquiring an additional 8,486 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on DRI shares. Mizuho upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $235.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $207.00 target price (down previously from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.78.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total value of $1,450,448.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,935,644.80. The trade was a 42.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total transaction of $480,954.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at $3,787,992. This trade represents a 11.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $213.06 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $201.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.53 billion, a PE ratio of 22.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.39.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

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

Darden Restaurants 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.