Jennison Associates LLC Has $3.26 Million Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Jennison Associates LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 91.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,876 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 200,774 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $3,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter worth about $682,000. First City Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $205,000. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 354,300 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,151,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,454,356,000 after buying an additional 8,851,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 23.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 157,200 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,801,000 after buying an additional 30,300 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.13.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,057,743.30. This trade represents a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total transaction of $981,488.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $659,601.36. The trade was a 59.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of DRI opened at $167.70 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $176.84. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $154.13.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.59%.

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.