Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $175.00 at Stephens

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective raised by Stephens from $164.00 to $175.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.60.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $187.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $188.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.64, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $166.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $156.99.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, Director Nana Mensah sold 1,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.90, for a total transaction of $201,294.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,719. This trade represents a 99.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. This represents a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 395.0% in the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Company 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.