Bank of New York Mellon Corp Purchases Shares of 990,725 Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon purchased 990,725 Darden Restaurants shares worth approximately $204.1 million, giving it a 0.87% stake in the company.
• Institutional investors own 93.64% of Darden’s stock, while analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $228.88.
• Darden exceeded quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $3.66 versus the $3.63 consensus, while revenue rose 13.7% year over year. The company also increased its quarterly dividend to $1.62, representing a 2.9% annualized yield.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 990,725 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $204,099,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.87% of Darden Restaurants as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,404,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 23,473 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $4,319,000 after buying an additional 5,830 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,587,939,000 after buying an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 313.9% in the fourth quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,598 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,502,000 after buying an additional 10,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 61,922 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $11,395,000 after buying an additional 5,348 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DRI. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE:DRI opened at $221.81 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.60. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $208.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $204.45. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $229.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) 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. The company's 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, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a $1.62 dividend. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is currently 62.43%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,110 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.32, for a total transaction of $226,795.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,754 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,197,257.28. This represents a 9.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total value of $1,780,380.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,799,490. This trade represents a 49.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the company's stock.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding DRI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source