Stephens Reaffirms “Equal Weight” Rating for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating restated by equities research analysts at Stephens in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $175.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ price objective would suggest a potential downside of 12.46% from the company’s current price.

DRI has been the topic of several other reports. Wedbush increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.36.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $199.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $192.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.60. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $203.47. The company has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,948.30. This trade represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at $843,433.56. This trade represents a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 in the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,497,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 1,401 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,527 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,019,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.