Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $212.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target hoisted by stock analysts at Truist Financial from $200.00 to $212.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Truist Financial’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 13.81% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on DRI. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.00.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 2.8 %

NYSE:DRI opened at $186.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $203.12. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $191.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.64. The stock has a market cap of $21.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,472,092.64. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 in the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DRI. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth $642,967,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 111.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,469,083 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $241,121,000 after buying an additional 772,907 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $75,137,000. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $48,919,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the third quarter valued at $40,048,000. 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.