Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wells Fargo & Company Analyst Says

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price upped by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $180.00 to $200.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 0.18% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.36.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:DRI traded up $0.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $199.64. The stock had a trading volume of 867,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,249,957. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $23.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $203.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.60 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. MCF Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 103.2% in the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.