Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $225.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective increased by UBS Group from $210.00 to $225.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on DRI. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wedbush upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.36.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $199.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $203.47. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $192.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.85. The firm has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.15%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total transaction of $2,888,762.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,472,092.64. The trade was a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,433.56. This represents a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 45,698 shares of company stock valued at $8,536,729. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $772,635,000 after purchasing an additional 26,601 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $700,210,000 after buying an additional 170,336 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $530,121,000 after acquiring an additional 39,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $300,446,000 after acquiring an additional 4,454 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.