Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $175.00

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

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (up from $182.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.60.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of DRI opened at $187.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $166.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.30. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $188.88.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total transaction of $542,587.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,155 shares in the company, valued at $1,005,911.65. The trade was a 35.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders have sold a total of 8,320 shares of company stock valued at $1,366,948 over the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. &PARTNERS boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 123.8% in the second quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 3,727 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 2,062 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 24,913 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,770,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161 shares in the last quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC now owns 10,743 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,626,000 after purchasing an additional 961 shares during the period. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $639,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 7.7% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,543 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. 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.