Great Lakes Advisors LLC Takes $39.63 Million Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 192,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $39,630,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,790,128,000 after acquiring an additional 322,079 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,015,109,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings 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. lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,189,868 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $771,020,000 after purchasing an additional 68,245 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. BTIG Research increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Evercore cut shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 18,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.89, for a total value of $90,766.27. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,536 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,134,271.04. The trade was a 7.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984 in the last 90 days. 0.67% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $218.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $207.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $204.03. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $229.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 62.43%.

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.