Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by TD Cowen

23 Sep 2024, 07:33 by Kim Johansen · The Markets Daily

TD Cowen reiterated their hold rating on shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Free Report) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $150.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Argus decreased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Barclays decreased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $180.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Darden Restaurants from a hold rating to an underperform rating and decreased their price target for the company from $154.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $179.28.

Read Our Latest Research Report on DRI

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:DRI opened at $170.17 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $150.90 and a 200-day moving average of $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.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.73%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,649,483.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $252,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 766 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 7,861.3% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 5,971 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $981,000 after purchasing an additional 5,896 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at about $58,601,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 62.6% during the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 2,255 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 868 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

About Darden Restaurants

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