Analysts Set Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) PT at $226.24

Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $226.24.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on DRI shares. Mizuho upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Melius Research raised Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $202.44 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $23.19 billion, a PE ratio of 21.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.64. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $169.00 and a 52 week high of $228.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $202.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.12.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 53.54%. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 63.49%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,391.84. The trade was a 92.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Caliber Wealth Management LLC KS grew its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC KS now owns 18,003 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,529,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 21.2% during the first quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 13,948 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,786,000 after buying an additional 2,435 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 5.0% during the first quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 28,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,579,000 after buying an additional 1,357 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.6% during the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,730 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $731,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Finally, apricus wealth LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the first quarter valued at $204,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.