Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. Sells 3,241 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. decreased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 36.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,764 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,241 shares during the quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 926.7% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 154 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Union Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.32.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI stock opened at $203.84 on Friday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.00 and a 1-year high of $220.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $23.35 billion, a PE ratio of 19.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $202.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $201.82.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 57.80%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 274 shares in the company, valued at $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants 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.