Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI Shares Sold by Genus Capital Management Inc.

Genus Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 28.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,355 shares during the period. Genus Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $1,585,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 78.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $507,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,890 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 32.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,463,786 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $849,726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,211 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 239.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 722,529 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $157,490,000 after purchasing an additional 509,655 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.6% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,839,198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,824,996,000 after purchasing an additional 236,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 148.5% during the third quarter. Man Group plc now owns 271,651 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $51,711,000 after purchasing an additional 162,318 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Stephens boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Weiss Ratings cut Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.24.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.0%

DRI stock opened at $203.48 on Monday. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $228.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.31 billion, a PE ratio of 21.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $197.67 and a 200-day moving average of $195.77.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The company had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.49%.

Darden Restaurants Profile

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.