Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Sells 58,607 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Capital Group Private Client Services cut its stake in Darden by 95.8% in Q3, selling 58,607 shares and leaving 2,587 shares valued at $492,000.
• Insiders sold 18,770 shares (about $3.95M) in the past 90 days — including SVP Susan Connelly and John Wilkerson — leaving insiders with 0.49% ownership.
• Darden trades with a market cap of $23.45B, has FY2026 EPS guidance of 10.50–10.70, a consensus price target of $224.33, and pays a $1.50 quarterly dividend (≈2.9% yield).

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. lowered its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 95.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,587 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 58,607 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc.'s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $492,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,055,185 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $3,063,609,000 after purchasing an additional 284,814 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,916,944 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,071,746,000 after purchasing an additional 100,270 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,073,901 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $887,988,000 after purchasing an additional 75,701 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,134,246 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $680,418,000 after purchasing an additional 175,811 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 78.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $507,675,000 after buying an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 4,098 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $849,761.28. This represents a 39.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the insider owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at $3,787,992. This represents a 11.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970. Insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $203.69 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $23.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $207.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.76.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is presently 62.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $234.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $224.33.

Darden Restaurants 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.

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