Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $206.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price upped by Barclays from $192.00 to $206.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

DRI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped 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. Citigroup dropped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.60.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of 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 company has a market cap of $22.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $166.87 and a 200 day moving average of $157.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

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

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total value of $542,587.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,155 shares in the company, valued at $1,005,911.65. This trade represents a 35.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,057,743.30. This represents a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,320 shares of company stock valued at $1,366,948. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,454,356,000 after buying an additional 8,851,795 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $772,635,000 after acquiring an additional 26,601 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,580,322 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $587,638,000 after purchasing an additional 123,900 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 worth $459,216,000 after purchasing an additional 17,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,352,608 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $386,133,000 after purchasing an additional 44,464 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.