UBS Group Boosts Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target to $195.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective boosted by UBS Group from $188.00 to $195.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on DRI. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Darden Restaurants from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and dropped their price target for the company from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $177.00 to $170.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Darden Restaurants from a hold rating to an underperform rating and dropped their price target for the company from $154.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, TD Cowen restated a hold rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Stock Down 1.2 %

DRI opened at $170.17 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.19. 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 one year low of $133.36 and a one year high of $176.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.82% and a net margin of 9.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.73%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total value of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,691 shares in the company, 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

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,308,144 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $349,268,000 after acquiring an additional 105,433 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,809,155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $297,244,000 after buying an additional 169,642 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,591,541 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $240,832,000 after buying an additional 18,899 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,418,592 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $233,075,000 after purchasing an additional 6,968 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,141,974 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $172,811,000 after purchasing an additional 132,643 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.