Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $220.00 at Wedbush

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective increased by Wedbush from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on DRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $186.60.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 2.3 %

DRI opened at $187.59 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $188.88. The company has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $166.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.99.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 64.59%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total value of $981,488.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $659,601.36. This represents a 59.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at $2,057,743.30. This represents a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,944,000 after acquiring an additional 8,480 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the third quarter valued at approximately $777,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $459,216,000 after purchasing an additional 17,497 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,454,356,000 after purchasing an additional 8,851,795 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 523.9% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 194,937 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,995,000 after purchasing an additional 163,693 shares in the last quarter. 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.