Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 246,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 10,210 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.22% of Darden Restaurants worth $47,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth $2,015,109,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,212,283 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $629,736,000 after acquiring an additional 991,230 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,265,473 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $248,083,000 after buying an additional 33,965 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,010,169 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $198,033,000 after purchasing an additional 5,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 14.9% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 685,636 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $141,248,000 after buying an additional 89,157 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $230.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.20. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $231.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $210.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $206.10.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 24th. The restaurant operator reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.05. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.21 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 58.64% and a net margin of 8.85%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.97 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 9th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DRI. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $248.00 to $247.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $236.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 25th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.82.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a full-service restaurant company that owns and operates a portfolio of dining brands in the United States. Its restaurants offer a range of cuisines and dining formats, including Italian-American, steakhouse, seafood, casual dining and polished casual concepts.

The company’s portfolio includes Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze and Eddie V’s. These brands serve meals prepared for on-premises dining, as well as takeout and other off-premises occasions.

Darden traces its history to 1968, when founder William “Bill” Darden opened the first Red Lobster restaurant in Lakeland, Florida.