Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given New $220.00 Price Target at KeyCorp

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective lifted by KeyCorp from $200.00 to $220.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. KeyCorp’s price target suggests a potential upside of 10.05% from the stock’s previous close.

DRI has been the subject of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.36.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $199.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $192.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.73. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $203.47. The firm has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value of $1,710,875.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,433.56. This trade represents a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,497,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 1,401 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,527 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,019,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.