Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Acquired by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 23.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,313 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,088 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $3,105,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Center for Financial Planning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 2,671 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $508,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 112.4% in the 3rd quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 6,856 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,305,000 after buying an additional 3,628 shares in the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.9% during the third quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,469 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,803,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,194 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,702,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC now owns 2,037 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.7%

DRI stock opened at $211.42 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $198.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.11. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $24.34 billion, a PE ratio of 22.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.64.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Mizuho raised Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $235.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total value of $480,954.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,787,992. This represents a 11.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $9,165,474.24. The trade was a 13.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970. 0.49% of the stock is 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.