Commerce Bank Makes New Investment in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Commerce Bank acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 48,511 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $9,994,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DRI. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,941,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.8% in the 1st quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Trust co raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,146 shares in the company, valued at $18,009,682.76. The trade was a 31.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $2,047,665.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $858,864.65. This represents a 70.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Evercore lowered Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $221.81 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $25.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $229.76. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $208.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $204.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share 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 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid 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 is presently 62.43%.

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.