Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Guggenheim raised their price target on the stock from $205.00 to $220.00. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the stock. Darden Restaurants traded as high as $206.91 and last traded at $208.54, with a volume of 260326 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $199.93.

Several other research firms have also commented on DRI. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.08.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the firm’s 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 in the company, valued at $766,948.30. This trade represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the sale, the insider now owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 45,698 shares of company stock worth $8,536,729. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. MCF Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,497,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 1,401 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,527 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,019,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.56. The stock has a market cap of $24.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for 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%. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 63.13%.

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.