Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Purchases New Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,135 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $646,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Meridian Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,404,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 23,473 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,319,000 after buying an additional 5,830 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,587,939,000 after buying an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 313.9% during the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,598 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,502,000 after buying an additional 10,313 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 61,922 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,395,000 after buying an additional 5,348 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.17, for a total transaction of $463,386.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at $867,028.05. This trade represents a 34.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 443 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.89, for a total value of $90,766.27. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,536 shares in the company, valued at $1,134,271.04. The trade was a 7.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984 in the last 90 days. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $228.88.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.8%

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $221.81 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $208.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.30 billion, a PE ratio of 21.37, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.31. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $229.76.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.43%.

Darden Restaurants Profile

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.