Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives $192.52 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and sixteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $201.36.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DRI. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $199.92 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $192.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.60. The firm 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. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $203.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.60 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.37, for a total value of $2,390,653.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,684,637.36. The trade was a 47.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 103.2% in the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.