Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Cut to $159.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target lowered by Piper Sandler from $163.00 to $159.00 in a research report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a buy rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Darden Restaurants from a hold rating to an underperform rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Argus cut their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $186.00 to $175.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Darden Restaurants from $177.00 to $170.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $170.95.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE DRI opened at $141.90 on Monday. 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 52 week low of $133.36 and a 52 week high of $176.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.65, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $147.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.77.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.73%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,480 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $736,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 1,852 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 342.7% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 34,808 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,719,000 after purchasing an additional 26,945 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.