Banco Santander S.A. Makes New $6.74 Million Investment in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Banco Santander S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 35,421 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $6,743,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 820.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 706,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $153,977,000 after purchasing an additional 629,669 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 45.2% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,917,398 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $417,935,000 after purchasing an additional 596,863 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 192.6% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 880,765 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $191,980,000 after purchasing an additional 579,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth about $125,521,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on DRI. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.78.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI stock opened at $213.51 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 2.06 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $204.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.93.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released 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 firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,935,644.80. This represents a 42.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total value of $546,393.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at $849,761.28. The trade was a 39.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.