Sanctuary Advisors LLC Has $5.70 Million Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 23.9% in the first quarter, ending with 29,088 shares valued at about $5.7 million.
• Darden reported quarterly EPS of $3.66, slightly ahead of estimates, while revenue came in at $3.72 billion, just below expectations but up 13.7% year over year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.62 per share from $1.50, bringing the annualized payout to $6.48 and the dividend yield to about 3.3%.

Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 23.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,088 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 5,615 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $5,702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,941,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 44.8% during the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Glenview Trust co increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the second quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of DRI stock opened at $198.31 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $220.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $202.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $202.62. The stock has a market cap of $22.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.98 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DRI. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, June 18th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Evercore lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $228.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $2,047,665.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $858,864.65. This represents a 70.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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