Truist Financial Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Stock

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target hoisted by analysts at Truist Financial from $195.00 to $200.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Truist Financial’s price target indicates a potential upside of 6.62% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on DRI. UBS Group increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. One research 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.com, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.60.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 2.3 %

DRI stock opened at $187.59 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $166.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $157.25. The company has a market cap of $22.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.64, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $188.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total transaction of $542,587.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,005,911.65. The trade was a 35.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $659,601.36. This represents a 59.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% in the 3rd 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. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 395.0% in the 3rd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.