Stephens Reaffirms Equal Weight Rating for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating restated by equities research analysts at Stephens in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $164.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ target price points to a potential upside of 2.58% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on DRI. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wedbush upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.46.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 3.4 %

NYSE DRI opened at $159.87 on Thursday. Darden Restaurants has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $177.67. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $165.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $156.81. 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 stock has a market cap of $18.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total transaction of $7,279,747.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. This trade represents a 41.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. This trade represents a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,265 shares of company stock worth $10,116,030 over the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 21.9% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,944,000 after purchasing an additional 8,480 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at about $777,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $459,216,000 after acquiring an additional 17,497 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased 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 buying an additional 8,851,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 523.9% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 194,937 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,995,000 after acquiring an additional 163,693 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.