Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $33.73 Million Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 162,340 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 7,902 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.14% of Darden Restaurants worth $33,728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $17,949,000. Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $830,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 61,530 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $11,487,000 after buying an additional 1,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 922,849 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $171,288,000 after buying an additional 121,015 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI traded down $3.55 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $209.33. 1,470,966 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,344,128. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.28. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $138.21 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $213.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $200.63.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 51.81% and a net margin of 8.69%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.65 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is presently 67.57%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 6,949 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.00, for a total transaction of $1,514,882.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 14,367 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,132,006. The trade was a 32.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 4,735 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,835.56. The trade was a 50.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 43,714 shares of company stock valued at $9,609,494 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on DRI shares. KeyCorp increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $224.60.

About Darden Restaurants

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.