Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives $180.13 Average PT from Analysts

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and sixteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $180.13.

DRI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Monday, October 14th. Wedbush boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI opened at $164.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $163.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.97, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.78 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.59%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,075,040.80. This represents a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $659,601.36. This represents a 59.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the first quarter worth about $628,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 15.0% during the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,542 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $425,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the first quarter worth about $78,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 206.5% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 49,082 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,204,000 after buying an additional 33,066 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 67,410 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,268,000 after buying an additional 2,171 shares during the period. 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.