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

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRIGet Free Report) had its price target increased by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $215.00 to $235.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 5.50% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on DRI. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $212.38.

View Our Latest Report on Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $222.75 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.11, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $207.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.58. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $226.98.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRIGet Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 50.68%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $4,271,642.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total transaction of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,206.56. The trade was a 18.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,613 shares of company stock worth $5,121,492 over the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $642,967,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 46,484.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 928,895 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $192,987,000 after purchasing an additional 926,901 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the first quarter valued at approximately $84,801,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $75,137,000. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,919,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

About Darden Restaurants

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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.

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Analyst Recommendations for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)

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