Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 138,913 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,441 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Darden Restaurants worth $27,233,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,790,128,000 after purchasing an additional 322,079 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,587,939,000 after buying an additional 43,965 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 81.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,486,434,000 after buying an additional 3,613,781 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,189,868 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $771,020,000 after buying an additional 68,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,918,165 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $537,001,000 after acquiring an additional 251,246 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,930 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $2,047,665.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $858,864.65. The trade was a 70.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $194.77 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $202.86 and its 200-day moving average is $202.80. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $220.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $22.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 57.44%. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on DRI shares. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold 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 $228.88.

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.