Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given New $195.00 Price Target at Bank of America

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target boosted by Bank of America from $184.00 to $195.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and decreased their target price for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Friday. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of DRI stock opened at $170.17 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $133.36 and a 1 year high of $176.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $150.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted 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). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares in the company, valued at $65,735.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $4,216,000. Farmers National Bank boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 8.3% in the second quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 3,515 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $1,856,000. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 71,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,862,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.6% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $215,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.