Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH Sells 10,299 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH trimmed its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 65.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,441 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 10,299 shares during the quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,016,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $700,210,000 after buying an additional 170,336 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $530,121,000 after buying an additional 39,189 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $300,446,000 after buying an additional 4,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,441,518 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $269,117,000 after buying an additional 158,168 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DRI. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,206.56. This represents a 18.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total value of $375,431.28. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. This trade represents a 20.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $211.42 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $199.11 and a 200 day moving average of $187.75. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $211.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.22, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

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.