Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Stock

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its target price upped by research analysts at Barclays from $206.00 to $230.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Barclays‘s price target points to a potential upside of 24.55% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $189.12.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.4 %

DRI traded up $0.70 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $184.66. 416,486 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,014,580. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $189.18. The company has a market cap of $21.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.30, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $160.19.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (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 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.1% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,950 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,901,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Darden Restaurants by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,944,000 after purchasing an additional 8,480 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth about $777,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,806,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $459,216,000 after buying an additional 17,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,454,356,000 after buying an additional 8,851,795 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.