Morgan Stanley Reiterates “Overweight” Rating for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $175.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 14.17% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on DRI. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $177.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $176.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.76.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of DRI opened at $153.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $150.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $159.63. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $133.36 and a twelve month high of $176.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.29.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 21st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total transaction of $192,857.99. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 7,673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $1,270,034.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,848,268.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total transaction of $192,857.99. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,599 shares of company stock valued at $2,197,891 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rise Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 131.3% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 65.1% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 180 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. 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.