Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $205.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target boosted by Stifel Nicolaus from $190.00 to $205.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.60.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $187.59 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $188.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $166.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 2.99%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $334,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,562 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,602,433.26. This represents a 11.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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 trade represents a 35.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,320 shares of company stock worth $1,366,948. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,944,000 after purchasing an additional 8,480 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the third quarter worth approximately $777,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 17,497 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 8,851,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 523.9% during the 3rd 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 during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.