Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 2.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,005 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,185 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $26,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DRI. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 98.5% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 64,118 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,206,000 after purchasing an additional 31,815 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 164.1% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $928,000 after purchasing an additional 3,027 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,536,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,816,000. Finally, Midwest Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,441,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $216.28 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $24.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.64. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $194.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $193.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its 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). The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.89%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total value of $1,450,448.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,935,644.80. The trade was a 42.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 value of $480,954.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,787,992. This trade represents a 11.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 in the last three months. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $232.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.78.

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.