Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) PT Raised to $195.00 at Bank of America

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target increased by stock analysts at Bank of America from $184.00 to $195.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 14.59% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Argus lowered their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $170.17 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $153.49. Darden Restaurants has a 52-week low of $133.36 and a 52-week high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Darden Restaurants news, 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 transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction, 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $252,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $58,601,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its stake 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 worth $370,000 after buying an additional 868 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,874 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,117 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.