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

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective upped by Barclays from $206.00 to $230.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

DRI has been the subject of several other research reports. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $189.12.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $184.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.69 billion, a PE ratio of 21.29, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $172.75 and its 200 day moving average is $160.41. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $189.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 395.0% in the third 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 period. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter worth about $72,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

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.