Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) PT Raised to $188.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price upped by Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $188.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on DRI. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $177.00 to $170.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $191.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an outperform 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 1.5 %

DRI opened at $172.74 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $151.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.18. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $133.36 and a 1-year high of $176.84. The stock has a market cap of $20.62 billion, a PE ratio of 20.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total value of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter worth $72,901,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $58,601,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 71.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 696,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $105,345,000 after acquiring an additional 289,876 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 139.9% in the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 352,344 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $53,317,000 after acquiring an additional 205,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 81.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 457,114 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $69,125,000 after purchasing an additional 204,832 shares during the last quarter. 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.