Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives $187.44 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-five analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and sixteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $187.44.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Stephens boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price (up previously from $182.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $187.72 on Wednesday. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $189.18. The company has a market cap of $22.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.65, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $171.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $159.87.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 395.0% in the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the third quarter valued at $72,000. 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.