Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Sold by MGB Wealth Management LLC

MGB Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 66.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,546 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,055 shares during the period. MGB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $533,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $503,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 20.8% in the second quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 10,648 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,321,000 after purchasing an additional 1,830 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 88.6% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 32,303 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,041,000 after purchasing an additional 15,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 12.1% during the second quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 29,553 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,442,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total transaction of $480,954.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at $3,787,992. This trade represents a 11.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total transaction of $1,450,448.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,040 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,644.80. This represents a 42.84% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.4%

DRI stock opened at $214.93 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $203.79 and its 200 day moving average is $194.85. The firm has a market cap of $24.75 billion, a PE ratio of 22.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.64.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.03 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 62.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on DRI shares. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.78.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.