Raymond James Increases Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target to $210.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Raymond James from $200.00 to $210.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Raymond James’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 9.05% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $193.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $192.58. The stock had a trading volume of 283,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,111,609. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $194.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $178.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $164.07. The firm has a market cap of $22.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.37, for a total transaction of $2,390,653.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 14,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,684,637.36. The trade was a 47.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 46,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,472,092.64. The trade was a 25.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 45,034 shares of company stock worth $8,303,692 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 110.9% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 23,581 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,400,000 after buying an additional 12,400 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 11,949 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,231,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Tectonic Advisors LLC increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 7,913 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,477,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 20,142 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,760,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 99,188 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,604,000 after purchasing an additional 15,962 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

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.