Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Given New $190.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective boosted by BMO Capital Markets from $175.00 to $190.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Stephens increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $194.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.36.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

DRI stock opened at $199.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $203.47.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total transaction of $1,710,875.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,433.56. This trade represents a 66.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. The trade was a 25.43 % decrease in their position. 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. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $772,635,000 after purchasing an additional 26,601 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $700,210,000 after buying an additional 170,336 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $530,121,000 after buying an additional 39,189 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $300,446,000 after buying an additional 4,454 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

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.