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

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,135 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $646,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,438,000 after acquiring an additional 2,553 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.8%

NYSE:DRI opened at $221.81 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $208.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $204.45. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $229.76. 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 $25.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 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. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.73 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 57.44% and a net margin of 9.13%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.350 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 2.9%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 62.43%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 39,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.06, for a total transaction of $8,181,354.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,009,682.76. The trade was a 31.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,226 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $867,028.05. The trade was a 34.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 70,185 shares of company stock valued at $14,636,984. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings lowered Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $272.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants 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.