SFE Investment Counsel Acquires New Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• SFE Investment Counsel acquired 5,665 shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter, valued at approximately $1.17 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 93.64% of DRI.
• Darden reported quarterly EPS of $3.66, slightly exceeding estimates, while revenue rose 13.7% year over year to $3.72 billion. The company issued fiscal 2027 EPS guidance of $11.10–$11.35.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $228.88. Darden also increased its quarterly dividend to $1.62, implying an annualized yield of about 2.9%.

SFE Investment Counsel acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,665 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,167,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during 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 boosted 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 last quarter. Finally, Glenview Trust co grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total value of $463,386.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $867,028.05. This represents a 34.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $1,846,637.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 18,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. Insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on DRI. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Evercore cut Darden Restaurants from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $225.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $25.70 billion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $229.76. The stock 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 data 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants's revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

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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