Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $203.09 and last traded at $200.13, with a volume of 69852 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $200.46.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Stephens upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wedbush upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 0.6 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $190.27 and a 200 day moving average of $172.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. Darden Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total value of $1,546,437.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at $260,000. Cigna Investments Inc. New purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at $200,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 11.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,875 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the third quarter worth about $205,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.