Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Stock Holdings Lowered by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 10.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 38,008 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,542 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $7,235,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 820.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 706,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $153,977,000 after buying an additional 629,669 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 45.2% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,917,398 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $417,935,000 after acquiring an additional 596,863 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 192.6% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 880,765 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $191,980,000 after acquiring an additional 579,759 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $125,521,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 239.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 722,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $157,490,000 after purchasing an additional 509,655 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE:DRI opened at $202.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.32 billion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.64. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $182.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.81.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Argus decreased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.00.

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.