33,997 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Acquired by Cibc World Market Inc.

Key Points

• Cibc World Market acquired 33,997 shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter, valued at approximately $7 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 93.64% of the company.
• Darden reported quarterly EPS of $3.66, slightly above estimates, while revenue rose 13.7% year over year to $3.72 billion. Analysts expect full-year EPS of approximately $11.28.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend to $1.62 per share, equivalent to an annualized $6.48 payout and a 2.9% yield. Wall Street maintains a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $230.12.

Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 33,997 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $7,004,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $17,438,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $529,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 15.7% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $4,151,000 after acquiring an additional 2,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.9% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $3,964,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $220.39 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.23, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 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 $208.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $204.67.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts' expectations of $3.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.98 earnings per share. The business's quarterly 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is currently 62.43%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $2,047,665.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $858,864.65. This trade represents a 70.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 86,146 shares in the company, valued at $18,009,682.76. This trade represents a 31.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRI has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Evercore lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $220.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $230.12.

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.

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