Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $262.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective raised by Bank of America from $261.00 to $262.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

DRI has been the subject of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.63.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE DRI opened at $200.50 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $169.00 and a 12 month high of $228.27. The company has a market cap of $23.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $208.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.62.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total value of $480,954.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at $3,787,992. This represents a 11.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 6,774 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.12, for a total transaction of $1,450,448.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,935,644.80. This trade represents a 42.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 in the last 90 days. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $403,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.7% in the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 7,177 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,564,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.7% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,941,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.