NewEdge Wealth LLC Buys New Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

NewEdge Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,340 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $602,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $26,000. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 419.2% during the 2nd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 135 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on DRI shares. Melius Research raised Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.78.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $214.23 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year 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 stock has a market cap of $24.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $202.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.50.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced 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). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly 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. Sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total transaction of $1,471,173.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 44,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,165,474.24. This trade represents a 13.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of Darden Restaurants 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,761.28. This trade represents a 39.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.