Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH Decreases Stock Position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH decreased its stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 65.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 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 SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 103.2% in the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $61,000. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth approximately $66,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DRI. KeyCorp increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim increased their price target 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 increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $201.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total value of $375,431.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492 over the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.3%

DRI stock traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $214.30. 1,415,696 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,324,366. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $202.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $190.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.08 billion, a PE ratio of 24.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $216.35.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.13%.

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.