Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) PT Raised to $192.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price boosted by stock analysts at Barclays from $180.00 to $192.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 12.83% from the stock’s current price.

DRI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $154.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $170.17 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $150.90 and a 200-day moving average of $153.49. The stock 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.38. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $133.36 and a 52 week high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 131.3% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth $27,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.