Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-five research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and seventeen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $192.52.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on DRI. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $183.00 price objective for the company.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI stock traded down $3.98 during trading on Thursday, hitting $191.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,385,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,032,492. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The business has a 50 day moving average of $187.90 and a 200 day moving average of $170.64. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $201.94.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,684,637.36. This trade represents a 47.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129 in the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 50.9% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $451,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,371 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,497,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 9.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 1,401 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 64 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.