Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Sets New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $230.00 to $250.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Darden Restaurants traded as high as $223.50 and last traded at $223.22, with a volume of 193175 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $217.50.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total value of $375,431.28. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492 in the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,998,200 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $830,666,000 after acquiring an additional 247,542 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 3,601,340 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $748,215,000 after acquiring an additional 157,305 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $530,121,000 after acquiring an additional 39,189 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $300,446,000 after acquiring an additional 4,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,441,518 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $269,117,000 after purchasing an additional 158,168 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.0%

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $206.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $26.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.75.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.68% and a net margin of 8.96%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.13%.

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.