Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives $187.44 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-five ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $187.44.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on DRI. Wedbush increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen reissued a "hold" rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of DRI stock traded down $0.08 on Wednesday, reaching $186.69. 834,056 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,250,780. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $135.87 and a one year high of $189.18. The stock has a market cap of $21.94 billion, a PE ratio of 21.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $170.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $159.26.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 64.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.30, for a total value of $489,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,601 shares in the company, valued at $2,057,743.30. The trade was a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total transaction of $1,313,399.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 8,851,795 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $772,635,000 after purchasing an additional 26,601 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,580,322 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $587,638,000 after buying an additional 123,900 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $459,216,000 after buying an additional 17,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,352,608 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $386,133,000 after acquiring an additional 44,464 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by 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.