Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given New $159.00 Price Target at Stephens

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective decreased by Stephens from $165.00 to $159.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has an equal weight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a hold rating to an underperform rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $154.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen reissued a hold rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Darden Restaurants from $176.00 to $165.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $170.18.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $160.25 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $148.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.72. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $133.36 and a 1 year high of $176.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.38. The company has a market capitalization of $19.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.81, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. Analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was 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 owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $4,216,000. Farmers National Bank grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 8.3% in the second quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 3,515 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $532,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $1,856,000. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 71,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,862,000 after buying an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

About Darden Restaurants

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.