Piper Sandler Increases Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target to $177.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price boosted by Piper Sandler from $159.00 to $177.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Stephens raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an overweight 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.com, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $172.74 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $151.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.18. The stock has a market cap of $20.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $133.36 and a 52 week high of $176.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is currently 65.73%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares in the company, valued at $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was 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 directly owns 11,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,649,483.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,601,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its stake 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 valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 868 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,874 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 13.5% during the fourth 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 institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.