Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives $180.88 Consensus PT from Analysts

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $180.46.

Several equities analysts have commented on DRI shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $184.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 price target on the stock.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 1,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.00, for a total value of $286,552.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,334 shares in the company, valued at $917,448. This represents a 23.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 58,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. This represents a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 395.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $166.60 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $177.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $19.58 billion, a PE ratio of 19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $156.41.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). The business 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 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This is an increase from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.59%.

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.