State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 3,040 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

Error: Response status code does not indicate success: 429 (Too Many Requests).

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,634 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 3,040 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $8,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.8% during the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 381 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,688 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $766,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 4,053 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $849,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,157 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,119 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $440,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on DRI shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $245.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $225.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 4,735 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.78, for a total value of $1,059,598.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,602 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,029,835.56. This trade represents a 50.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 5,780 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.22, for a total transaction of $1,284,431.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,555 shares in the company, valued at $1,012,212.10. This trade represents a 55.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 45,727 shares of company stock valued at $10,022,232 over the last three months. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI traded down $0.9060 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $206.5840. 581,863 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,322,107. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.23 and a 52 week high of $228.27. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $211.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.34. The firm has a market cap of $24.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.69% and a return on equity of 51.81%. The company had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.65 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 67.57%.

Darden Restaurants announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, June 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V's Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.