Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) PT Raised to $200.00 at Wedbush

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target raised by Wedbush from $170.00 to $200.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

DRI has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $180.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 14th. Argus cut their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Raymond James reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stephens reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $159.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Darden Restaurants from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $170.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50 day moving average is $150.34 and its 200 day moving average is $153.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Darden Restaurants has a 52-week low of $133.36 and a 52-week high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 65.73%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were 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 owns 447 shares in the company, valued at $65,735.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth about $4,216,000. Farmers National Bank increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 8.3% during the second quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 3,515 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $1,856,000. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 71,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,862,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.