Victory Capital Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 195,455 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 4,267 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of Darden Restaurants worth $37,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DRI. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 419.2% during the 2nd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 135 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total value of $546,393.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at $849,761.28. This trade represents a 39.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total transaction of $1,471,173.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 44,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,165,474.24. This represents a 13.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of DRI opened at $203.74 on Monday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $206.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $23.46 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $195.00 to $235.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Barclays cut their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.89.

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.