Prospector Partners LLC Cuts Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Prospector Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,478 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,413 shares during the quarter. Prospector Partners LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Darden Restaurants worth $12,084,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,055,185 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,063,609,000 after buying an additional 284,814 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,916,944 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,071,746,000 after purchasing an additional 100,270 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.9% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,073,901 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $887,988,000 after purchasing an additional 75,701 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,134,246 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $680,418,000 after purchasing an additional 175,811 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $507,675,000 after buying an additional 1,171,890 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on DRI shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 15th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In related news, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,165,474.24. This represents a 13.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total value of $1,450,448.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,935,644.80. The trade was a 42.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 in the last ninety days. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.9%

DRI opened at $216.72 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $24.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.64. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $228.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $200.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.37.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. The business’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. On average, equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.89%.

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.