Stifel Nicolaus Increases Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target to $215.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective hoisted by Stifel Nicolaus from $205.00 to $215.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on DRI. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.36.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.5 %

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

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

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued 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 is 64.15%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,698 shares of company stock valued at $8,536,729. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DRI. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $642,967,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 111.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,469,083 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $241,121,000 after buying an additional 772,907 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $75,137,000. Junto Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $48,919,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,048,000. 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.