BNP Paribas Sells 28,911 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

BNP Paribas lowered its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 98.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 398 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 28,911 shares during the period. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $76,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. MAI Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 7,177 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,564,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. apricus wealth LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 5.2% in the third quarter. apricus wealth LLC now owns 1,141 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $217,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Embree Financial Group lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.5% in the third quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 1,681 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers National Bank boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.7% during the second quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 3,597 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $784,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 2.2%

NYSE DRI opened at $206.92 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.82 billion, a PE ratio of 21.69, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $228.27. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $207.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 62.89%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total transaction of $1,450,448.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,935,644.80. The trade was a 42.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 44,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,165,474.24. This represents a 13.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $195.00 to $235.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective 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 given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.63.

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.