Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Invests $661,000 in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 3,210 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $661,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DRI. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $403,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,941,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.8% during the 1st quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Trust co lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 1,308 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $215.75 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $209.14 and its 200-day moving average is $204.70. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $229.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.60.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The restaurant operator reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.98 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly 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 11.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a $1.62 dividend. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on DRI. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Stephens increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.50.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 8,478 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $1,780,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,799,490. This trade represents a 49.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 8,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $1,846,637.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 18,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,915,354.02. This represents a 32.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 70,185 shares of company stock worth $14,636,984. 0.67% 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.