Swiss National Bank Sells 1,400 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Key Points

• The Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. by 0.4% during the first quarter, holding 330,400 shares worth approximately $68.64 million at the end of the period.
• Darden recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend of $6.00 and a yield of 3.0%, an increase from the previous dividend of $1.40.
• The company initiated a $1 billion stock buyback program, allowing for the repurchase of up to 3.8% of its stock, signaling confidence from the board in its current valuation.

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 330,400 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 1,400 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.28% of Darden Restaurants worth $68,644,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 4,330 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $808,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 19,439 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $3,627,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 3,491 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $652,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,720,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 5,381 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $245.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $252.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $225.19.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI traded down $0.82 on Thursday, hitting $206.10. 568,055 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,330,859. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $212.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $203.90. The firm has a market cap of $24.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $141.82 and a one year high of $228.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

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

Darden Restaurants announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, June 20th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 3.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

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.