Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Rating Lowered to Market Perform at Sanford C. Bernstein

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) was downgraded by Sanford C. Bernstein from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $180.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their prior target price of $190.00. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target indicates a potential upside of 4.49% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on DRI. Bank of America lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Jefferies Financial Group cut Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $124.00 in a report on Thursday, July 11th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Darden Restaurants from $177.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Citigroup reduced 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Darden Restaurants from $176.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.87.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 8.3 %

Shares of DRI opened at $172.27 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $149.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.39. The company has a market cap of $20.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. Darden Restaurants has a 52-week low of $133.36 and a 52-week high of $176.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.38.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). The firm 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cibc World Markets Corp grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 39.7% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 30,344 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,986,000 after purchasing an additional 8,619 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,901,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 206.5% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 49,082 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,204,000 after purchasing an additional 33,066 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 131.3% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $838,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.