Corient IA LLC Takes $416,000 Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Corient IA LLC has acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI), purchasing 2,000 shares valued at approximately $416,000.
• Institutional investors have significantly increased their stakes in Darden, with notable increases from Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC and Choreo LLC, reflecting growing confidence in the company's performance.
• Darden has announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.50 per share and initiated a $1 billion stock repurchase program, indicating strong financial health and potential stock undervaluation.

Corient IA LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,000 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $416,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 3,491 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $799,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,394,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 108,825 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $20,299,000 after acquiring an additional 8,154 shares during the period. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $365,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 733 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.50, for a total value of $160,160.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 14,367 shares in the company, valued at $3,139,189.50. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 5,780 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.22, for a total value of $1,284,431.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,555 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,012,212.10. The trade was a 55.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,727 shares of company stock worth $10,022,232 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on DRI. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Darden Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $245.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $225.19.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI traded down $0.9060 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $206.5840. 581,863 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,322,107. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.42. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.23 and a 12-month high of $228.27. The company has a market cap of $24.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.75. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $211.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $204.34.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 51.81% and a net margin of 8.69%.The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.65 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. Research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 buy up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.57%.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.