Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Sold by Allianz Asset Management GmbH

Allianz Asset Management GmbH decreased its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 72,776 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 76,510 shares during the quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $13,854,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 120.4% in the second quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 3,959 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 2,163 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 5,679 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,238,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $474,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 122.6% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 7,906 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,723,000 after buying an additional 4,355 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.0% during the second quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,745 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $816,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The shares were 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 $3,787,992. The trade was a 11.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 42.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $216.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.26. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $228.27. The stock has a market cap of $24.90 billion, a PE ratio of 22.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $194.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $193.80.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 62.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $239.00 to $232.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $207.00 target price (down previously from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.78.

About Darden Restaurants

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.