Ascent Group LLC Reduces Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC significantly reduced its position in Darden Restaurants, lowering its stake by 41.2% in the second quarter, leaving it with 3,807 shares valued at approximately $830,000.
• Despite the reduction by some investors, several hedge funds have increased their holdings in Darden Restaurants, with changes reflecting a mix of increases and stability among institutional investors that own 93.64% of the company's stock.
• Darden Restaurants declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50, which will be paid on November 3rd, maintaining a 3.1% yield, while also announcing a share buyback plan of $1 billion for outstanding shares.

Ascent Group LLC reduced its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 41.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,807 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 2,668 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bowman & Co S.C. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. now owns 9,631 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,099,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.2% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 201 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 2.5% during the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $430,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 381 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 1,663 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on DRI. Bank of America raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $253.00 to $254.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Melius Research raised Darden Restaurants to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Melius initiated coverage on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set a "hold" rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Darden Restaurants from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $225.59.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of DRI stock opened at $193.41 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.18 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $202.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $206.17. The stock has a market cap of $22.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.77.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.03 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 52.35%. The business's revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.75 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is currently 64.31%.

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, June 20th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,157 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.70, for a total transaction of $236,837.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 10,632 shares in the company, valued at $2,176,370.40. This trade represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,013 shares of company stock valued at $412,738. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V's Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.

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