Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer reissued their outperform rating on shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has a $200.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their previous price target of $182.00.

DRI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.60.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE DRI opened at $187.59 on Friday. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $166.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $157.30. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $188.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.64, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total transaction of $542,587.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,005,911.65. This trade represents a 35.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $334,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,562 shares in the company, valued at $2,602,433.26. This represents a 11.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,320 shares of company stock valued at $1,366,948 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,833 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $629,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.6% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $215,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Darden Restaurants by 4.4% in the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

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.