Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and sixteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $180.13.

DRI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.00, for a total transaction of $286,552.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $917,448. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 206.5% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 49,082 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,204,000 after buying an additional 33,066 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.6% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 136,364 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $21,158,000 after buying an additional 7,184 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 134,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $22,451,000 after buying an additional 6,151 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 16.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 42,281 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,398,000 after purchasing an additional 5,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.6% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 103,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,248,000 after purchasing an additional 4,526 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $169.25 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $162.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.26. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $176.84. The company has a market cap of $19.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.52, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.59%.

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.