Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $164.00

by · The Markets Daily

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Free Report) had its price objective boosted by Stephens from $159.00 to $164.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on DRI. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Darden Restaurants from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Friday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Argus dropped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $180.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $179.28.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on DRI

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE DRI opened at $170.17 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $150.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.19. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $133.36 and a 52 week high of $176.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is 65.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total value of $2,344,283.46. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares in the company, valued at $65,735.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total value of $2,344,283.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,649,483.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.4% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 16,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,766,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 34.8% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.6% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% in the first quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 1,640 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Community Bank raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.3% during the first quarter. United Community Bank now owns 5,918 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $989,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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