Raymond James Raises Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target to $170.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price raised by Raymond James from $167.00 to $170.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Raymond James currently has an outperform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on DRI. Barclays dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $180.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $176.00 to $165.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $174.20.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $153.28 on Friday. 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 0.25. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $150.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $159.62. The company has a market capitalization of $18.30 billion, a PE ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.29.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 61.50%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $734,998.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,994,800.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 4,707 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $734,998.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,994,800.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 7,673 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $1,270,034.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,848,268.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,599 shares of company stock valued at $2,197,891 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 27.2% in the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,903,000 after acquiring an additional 2,839 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 9,878 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 164,249 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $23,524,000 after purchasing an additional 5,703 shares during the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $168,000. 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.