Silvant Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Silvant Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 25,938 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $5,343,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,790,128,000 after acquiring an additional 322,079 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,587,939,000 after purchasing an additional 43,965 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,015,109,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 81.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,486,434,000 after purchasing an additional 3,613,781 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,189,868 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $771,020,000 after buying an additional 68,245 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $217.89 on Friday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $208.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.86 billion, a PE ratio of 20.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly 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. Equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $1.62 dividend. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total value of $463,386.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at $867,028.05. This represents a 34.83% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on DRI shares. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.88.

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.