Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $192.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Barclays from $180.00 to $192.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Barclays‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 12.83% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Stephens increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $188.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI opened at $170.17 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $150.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $153.49. 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. The company has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 49.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares in the company, valued at $65,735.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the 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 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. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 39.7% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 30,344 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,986,000 after buying an additional 8,619 shares during the period. APG Asset Management US Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $3,901,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 206.5% during the 1st 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 during the period. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 131.3% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth about $838,000. Hedge funds and other 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.