State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Holdings in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 32.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,089 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 20,629 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $6,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,701 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,265,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 766 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 7,861.3% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 5,971 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $981,000 after purchasing an additional 5,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $58,601,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $160.25 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $148.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $153.49. The firm has a market cap of $19.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.81, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $133.36 and a 52-week high of $176.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 65.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total value of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DRI. Argus reduced their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Stephens reduced their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $159.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $170.18.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V's Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.