Brokerages Set Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Target Price at $192.52

Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $192.52.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position 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 valued at $1,454,356,000 after purchasing an additional 8,851,795 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $772,635,000 after acquiring an additional 26,601 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $700,210,000 after acquiring an additional 170,336 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth approximately $642,967,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $530,121,000 after acquiring an additional 39,189 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $194.83 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $188.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.39. The company has a market cap of $22.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $201.94.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.15%.

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.