Vise Technologies Inc. Takes Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 9,112 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DRI. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,015,109,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 81.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,486,434,000 after buying an additional 3,613,781 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 44.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,212,283 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $629,736,000 after buying an additional 991,230 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $204,099,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $144,483,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Argus lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

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

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $221.81 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $208.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $204.45. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $229.76. The firm has a market cap of $25.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.60. 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 (NYSE:DRI) last released 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 firm 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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