Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives $180.13 Consensus PT from Analysts

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $180.13.

DRI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at $2,057,743.30. This represents a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total value of $542,587.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,005,911.65. This represents a 35.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at $628,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 15.0% in the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,542 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the first quarter worth about $78,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 206.5% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 49,082 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,204,000 after buying an additional 33,066 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 67,410 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,268,000 after buying an additional 2,171 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $166.78 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants has a 52-week low of $135.87 and a 52-week high of $176.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.60 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $163.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.64.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted 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). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.59%.

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.