Whalen Wealth Management Inc. Invests $465,000 in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Whalen Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,257 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $465,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Union Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. Robert W. Baird raised Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Bank of America increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.12.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.8%

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $225.56 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $229.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.73 billion, a PE ratio of 21.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $208.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. The firm 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total value of $1,780,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 8,569 shares in the company, valued at $1,799,490. This represents a 49.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.