JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target to $176.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $165.00 to $176.00 in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on DRI. Evercore ISI raised shares of Darden Restaurants from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday. 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 report on Friday. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $170.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.19. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $133.36 and a twelve month high of $176.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cibc World Markets Corp increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 39.7% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 30,344 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,986,000 after acquiring an additional 8,619 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $3,901,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 206.5% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 49,082 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,204,000 after purchasing an additional 33,066 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 131.3% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $838,000. 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.