Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Purchased by Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH

Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 23.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,902 shares during the quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $3,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Wealth Watch Advisors INC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target 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. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $234.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.33.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE DRI opened at $202.36 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $23.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $207.68 and a 200-day moving average of $194.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s revenue 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, equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total transaction of $546,393.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $849,761.28. The trade was a 39.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total value of $480,954.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 17,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,787,992. The trade was a 11.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.