Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $227.16.

DRI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares in the company, valued at $55,391.84. This trade represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $58,296.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 15,983 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,941,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 44.8% in the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 181 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.4% during the third quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 13,425 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,556,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of DRI stock opened at $210.66 on Wednesday. Darden Restaurants has a 52-week low of $169.00 and a 52-week high of $228.27. The stock has a market cap of $24.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.31, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $199.05 and its 200-day moving average is $199.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.