Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Trims Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• The Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund reduced its stake in Darden Restaurants by 19.8%, selling 6,500 shares and now holding 26,353 shares valued at approximately $5.48 million.
• Darden Restaurants has announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.50 per share, marking a 7.1% rise from the previous dividend, alongside a new share buyback plan of $1 billion.
• Wall Street analysts have generally given Darden Restaurants a moderate buy rating, with an average price target of $225.19, following recent price target increases from several major financial institutions.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund reduced its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 19.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,353 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 6,500 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $5,475,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Grove Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 171.4% during the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 133 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 108.8% during the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 142 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Centennial Bank AR purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, SouthState Corp purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 13,569 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.45, for a total value of $2,937,010.05. Following the transaction, the insider owned 46,327 shares in the company, valued at $10,027,479.15. The trade was a 22.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 6,949 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.00, for a total value of $1,514,882.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 14,367 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,132,006. This represents a 32.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 45,727 shares of company stock valued at $10,022,232. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.1%

DRI traded up $2.2610 on Tuesday, reaching $207.6710. 934,686 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,330,085. The company's 50 day moving average is $211.87 and its 200-day moving average is $204.29. The company has a market cap of $24.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.75. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $151.00 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.42.

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

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, June 20th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $245.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $215.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $225.19.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.