Guggenheim Raises Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target to $235.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target boosted by equities researchers at Guggenheim from $230.00 to $235.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Guggenheim’s target price points to a potential upside of 9.60% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.46.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $214.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $200.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $200.38. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $169.00 and a one year high of $222.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was 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 approximately $55,391.84. This trade represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $314,215.44. This represents a 15.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.3% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 80,001 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,438,000 after acquiring an additional 2,553 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 15.7% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

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.