Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $206.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price increased by Barclays from $192.00 to $206.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on DRI. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.60.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 2.3 %

NYSE DRI opened at $187.59 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $166.87 and its 200 day moving average is $157.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. 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 data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. The trade was a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,320 shares of company stock worth $1,366,948. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,454,356,000 after purchasing an additional 8,851,795 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $772,635,000 after buying an additional 26,601 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.6% during the third 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $459,216,000 after buying an additional 17,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.9% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,352,608 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $386,133,000 after acquiring an additional 44,464 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

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.