BMO Capital Markets Cuts Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target to $165.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price cut by BMO Capital Markets from $175.00 to $165.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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 boosted their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.46.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.7 %

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $165.02 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.39 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $177.67. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $165.36 and a 200-day moving average of $156.28.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, Director Nana Mensah sold 1,171 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.90, for a total value of $201,294.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10 shares in the company, valued at $1,719. The trade was a 99.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 395.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by 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.