Family Legacy Inc. Buys Shares of 8,133 Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Family Legacy Inc. bought 8,133 shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter, valued at approximately $1.68 million. Institutional investors collectively own 93.64% of Darden’s stock.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with 17 Buy ratings and 10 Hold ratings, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $228.88.
• Darden reported quarterly EPS of $3.66, slightly exceeding estimates, while revenue rose 13.7% year over year to $3.72 billion. The company also increased its quarterly dividend to $1.62 per share, representing a 2.9% yield.

Family Legacy Inc. purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,133 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,676,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $2,404,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 23,473 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $4,319,000 after buying an additional 5,830 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,587,939,000 after buying an additional 43,965 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 313.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,007,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on DRI. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Argus boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $225.31 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $229.76. The company has a market cap of $25.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $206.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $203.63.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.Darden Restaurants's revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $1,780,380.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,799,490. The trade was a 49.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.89, for a total value of $90,766.27. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,536 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,134,271.04. The trade was a 7.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.49% 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.

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