Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $195.00 at UBS Group

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target raised by UBS Group from $188.00 to $195.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on DRI. KeyCorp cut their price target on Darden Restaurants from $177.00 to $170.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Raymond James reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a hold rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Darden Restaurants from a hold rating to an underperform rating and cut their target price for the company from $154.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $170.17 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $150.34 and its 200-day moving average is $153.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. 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 results 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). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 dividend yield of 3.29%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the 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 directly owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,483.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total value of $2,344,283.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 0.4% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 16,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,766,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 34.8% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 1,640 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, United Community Bank boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. United Community Bank now owns 5,918 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $989,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.