MGO One Seven LLC Grows Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

MGO One Seven LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 331.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,314 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,980 shares during the quarter. MGO One Seven LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $5,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Associated Banc Corp raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 1,923 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 49.3% in the third quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 2,471 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 816 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 59.9% in the third quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 510 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Fingerlakes Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 13,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,547,000 after buying an additional 3,277 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $209.48 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.60. 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 $24.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.64.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released 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). 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 62.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Barclays lowered their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.00.

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.