Capital World Investors Purchases 236,620 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Capital World Investors raised its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,839,198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 236,620 shares during the period. Capital World Investors owned 12.76% of Darden Restaurants worth $2,824,996,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MAI Capital Management boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 7,177 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,564,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.7% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. apricus wealth LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.2% during the third quarter. apricus wealth LLC now owns 1,141 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Embree Financial Group increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 1,681 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers National Bank lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 3,597 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $784,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.89.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total transaction of $480,954.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,787,992. This represents a 11.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total value of $1,471,173.36. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 44,252 shares in the company, valued at $9,165,474.24. The trade was a 13.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $201.70 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $206.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.73. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The company has a market capitalization of $23.22 billion, a PE ratio of 21.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its 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). The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.03 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th were paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 62.89%.

Darden Restaurants 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.