Teacher Retirement System of Texas Trims Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Key Points

• Teacher Retirement System of Texas cut its stake in Darden by 44.5% in Q4, selling 28,534 shares and retaining 35,584 shares valued at about $6.55 million.
• Darden declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share (annualized $6.00, ~3.0% yield), with an ex-dividend date of April 10 and payment on May 1.
• The company slightly beat quarterly expectations—EPS $2.95 vs. $2.94 and revenue $3.35B (up 5.9% YoY)—and analysts hold a consensus Moderate Buy with a $226.24 price target.

Teacher Retirement System of Texas decreased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 44.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,584 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 28,534 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $6,548,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.6% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,839,198 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,824,996,000 after purchasing an additional 236,620 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,463,786 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $849,726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,211 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $507,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.1% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,904,022 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $362,848,000 after purchasing an additional 19,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 239.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 722,529 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $157,490,000 after purchasing an additional 509,655 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $201.33 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $202.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.24. The company has a market capitalization of $23.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.30, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.64.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is currently 63.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Weiss Ratings raised Darden Restaurants from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $207.00 target price (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Bank of America upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Melius Research raised Darden Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $226.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 274 shares in the company, valued at $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Darden Restaurants

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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