Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Citigroup Analyst Says

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target raised by research analysts at Citigroup from $223.00 to $229.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 14.55% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. TD Securities upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.36.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of DRI stock opened at $199.92 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.73. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $203.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $682,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $409,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 93.8% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 11,890 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,952,000 after buying an additional 5,756 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 111.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,469,083 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $241,121,000 after buying an additional 772,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,580,322 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $587,638,000 after buying an additional 123,900 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.