Flputnam Investment Management Co. Buys New Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Flputnam Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 69,679 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $14,355,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,404,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 23,473 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,319,000 after purchasing an additional 5,830 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,587,939,000 after purchasing an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,007,000. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 313.9% during the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,598 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,502,000 after buying an additional 10,313 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on DRI shares. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Stephens raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total value of $1,780,380.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 8,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,799,490. The trade was a 49.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.89, for a total value of $90,766.27. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,536 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,134,271.04. This trade represents a 7.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $225.31 on Monday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $229.76. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $206.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $203.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $25.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a $1.62 dividend. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

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.