Wells Fargo & Company Increases Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target to $165.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $160.00 to $165.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $172.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $151.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.18. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $133.36 and a fifty-two week high of $176.84. 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 (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 65.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, 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 value of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the business’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 completion of 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 447 shares in the company, valued at $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.4% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 16,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,766,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 34.8% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 1,640 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Community Bank increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. United Community Bank now owns 5,918 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $989,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is 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.