Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $205.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price raised by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target suggests a potential upside of 12.43% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $184.84.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.6 %

DRI traded down $1.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $182.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 407,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,239,232. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $166.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $156.99. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $188.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.03, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The business 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%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total transaction of $489,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,057,743.30. This represents a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total transaction of $981,488.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at $659,601.36. This represents a 59.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 1,690.9% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 395.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.