Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Lowers Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 70.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 26,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 63,359 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $4,843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 24.8% during the second quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 1,425 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at $237,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 21,700.0% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 654 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 30.2% during the 2nd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,225 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,883,000 after acquiring an additional 3,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 71.2% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 58,201 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,674,000 after acquiring an additional 24,204 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on DRI. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 15th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $207.00 price objective (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 3.2%

NYSE DRI opened at $192.58 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $206.81 and its 200-day moving average is $194.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.61. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.49%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total transaction of $1,471,173.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 44,252 shares in the company, valued at $9,165,474.24. This trade represents a 13.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total transaction of $546,393.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at $849,761.28. This trade represents a 39.14% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock valued at $3,948,970 over the last quarter. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by 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.