Sanford C. Bernstein Downgrades Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) to Market Perform

Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $180.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $190.00.

DRI has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Stephens reaffirmed an equal weight rating and set a $159.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and increased their price target for the company from $165.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $180.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.5 %

DRI stock opened at $172.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.62 billion, a PE ratio of 20.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.38. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $133.36 and a one year high of $176.84. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $151.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.18.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 65.73%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total transaction of $2,344,283.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.06, for a total value of $2,344,283.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $252,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth $58,601,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 62.6% in the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 2,255 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 868 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,874 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $472,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,117 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.