Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Rating Reiterated by Wedbush

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by Wedbush in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $170.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 8.03% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on DRI. Bank of America increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. KeyCorp cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $177.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.45.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $157.37 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $133.36 and a 1-year high of $176.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap of $18.78 billion, a PE ratio of 18.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.75.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted 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. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total value of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares in the company, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total value of $2,344,283.46. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. 93.64% of the stock is 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.