Stephens Issues Positive Forecast for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Stock Price

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective raised by Stephens from $164.00 to $175.00 in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on DRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.60.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $187.59 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.30. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $188.88. The firm has a market cap of $22.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its 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. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.15%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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 $1,005,911.65. The trade was a 35.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $334,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,562 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,602,433.26. The trade was a 11.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,320 shares of company stock worth $1,366,948. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 151,293 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $24,832,000 after purchasing an additional 5,816 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 824.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 40,741 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,687,000 after buying an additional 36,334 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the third quarter worth $1,081,000. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.1% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,901,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at $326,000. Institutional investors 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.