7,647 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Acquired by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,647 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,575,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,404,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,587,939,000 after purchasing an additional 43,965 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 313.9% during the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,598 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,502,000 after purchasing an additional 10,313 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 61,922 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,395,000 after purchasing an additional 5,348 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $220.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $229.76. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $208.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $204.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.14 billion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 62.43%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.89, for a total value of $90,766.27. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,536 shares in the company, valued at $1,134,271.04. The trade was a 7.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total transaction of $463,386.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $867,028.05. This trade represents a 34.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984 over the last quarter. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on DRI. BTIG Research upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $220.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.12.

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.