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

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target boosted by analysts at Stephens from $159.00 to $164.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ target price suggests a potential downside of 4.80% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $124.00 in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday. Barclays decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.87.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI opened at $172.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $149.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Darden Restaurants has a 12-month low of $133.36 and a 12-month high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants 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 value of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 shares were 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 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. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth $58,601,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 62.6% in the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 2,255 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 868 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,874 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,117 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.