Baldwin Investment Management LLC Acquires 2,630 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Baldwin Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 32.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,723 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,630 shares during the period. Baldwin Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $2,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.1% in the second quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $533,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 60,003 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $13,079,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 267,741 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,360,000 after acquiring an additional 8,526 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 40.9% during the 2nd quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 3,110 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $678,000 after acquiring an additional 902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,623 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $572,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total transaction of $1,450,448.88. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total value of $1,471,173.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 44,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,165,474.24. The trade was a 13.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on DRI. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Raymond James Financial restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Melius Research raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.78.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $214.23 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $202.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.50. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. 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%.

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.