Darden Restaurants’ (DRI) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Raymond James

Raymond James reissued their outperform rating on shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $167.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their previous price target of $175.00.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial restated a buy rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, March 22nd. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $175.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, May 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $173.81.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $153.58 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $150.99 and a 200-day moving average of $159.86. The company has a market cap of $18.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $133.36 and a one year high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The restaurant operator reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.02 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 49.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.34 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 8.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $1.31 dividend. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 61.43%.

Darden Restaurants announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total value of $192,857.99. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,281 shares in the company, valued at $993,717.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director William S. Simon sold 1,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.21, for a total value of $192,857.99. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $993,717.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 7,673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $1,270,034.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,848,268.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,599 shares of company stock worth $2,197,891 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 20,583 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,948,000 after buying an additional 2,981 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,997 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,002,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 329,247 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $47,155,000 after purchasing an additional 23,465 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 250,291 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $35,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 254,606 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,335,000 after purchasing an additional 17,325 shares during the last quarter. 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.