Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seventeen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $174.24.

DRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. BTIG Research raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 14th.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI stock opened at $140.29 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $158.42. The firm has a market cap of $16.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.38. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $133.36 and a 1 year high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 61.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $734,998.05. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,179 shares in the company, valued at $2,994,800.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.8% during the second quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 25,269 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,824,000 after buying an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 29.5% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,194 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $200,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at about $263,000. Boston Common Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 29,807 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,510,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 6.3% in the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 19,263 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.