69,140 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Purchased by Danske Bank A S

Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 69,140 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $14,244,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bell Investment Advisors Inc purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Union Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stephens upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Evercore downgraded Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Argus raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $228.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 value of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider owned 5,536 shares in the company, valued at $1,134,271.04. This represents a 7.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE DRI opened at $217.89 on Friday. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $208.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $204.32. The company has a market capitalization of $24.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.60. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.98 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $1.62 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 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.