8,133 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Acquired by Family Legacy Inc.

Family Legacy Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 8,133 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,676,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Union Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 44.8% during the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total value of $8,181,354.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,009,682.76. This represents a 31.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $1,780,380.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,799,490. The trade was a 49.73% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.8%

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $225.31 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $229.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $206.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $203.63. The firm has a market cap of $25.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly 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. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

Darden Restaurants 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.