Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given New $206.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price reduced by stock analysts at Citigroup from $209.00 to $206.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 20.36% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on DRI. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.88.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $171.16 on Wednesday. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $177.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.74, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly 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). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at $2,057,743.30. This represents a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at $10,075,040.80. This represents a 41.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 395.0% during the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.