Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given New $218.00 Price Target at Oppenheimer

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price upped by analysts at Oppenheimer from $200.00 to $218.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target points to a potential upside of 18.68% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Stephens raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $188.16.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 2.1 %

DRI opened at $183.69 on Tuesday. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $189.18. The company has a market cap of $21.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.19, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $160.19.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 85,390 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $15,991,000 after acquiring an additional 3,521 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $325,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,994 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 673 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 151,293 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $24,832,000 after acquiring an additional 5,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 824.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 40,741 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,687,000 after acquiring an additional 36,334 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.