Citigroup Cuts Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target to $206.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective cut by Citigroup from $209.00 to $206.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.88.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $169.75 on Wednesday. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $177.67. The company has a market cap of $19.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50 day moving average of $164.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.63.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.59%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at $10,075,040.80. This represents a 41.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. This represents a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 395.0% during the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. 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.