Jennison Associates LLC Grows Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 33.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,471 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 6,595 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $4,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 14,912 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451 shares during the last quarter. QV Investors Inc. grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 87,702 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $16,373,000 after buying an additional 3,580 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,901,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $7,944,000 after buying an additional 8,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $459,216,000 after acquiring an additional 17,497 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE DRI traded down $2.03 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $195.19. 882,947 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,087,517. The business's 50 day moving average is $183.34 and its 200-day moving average is $167.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $201.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. The company's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total transaction of $2,888,762.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on DRI. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wedbush raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants 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.