Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Earns Hold Rating from TD Cowen

TD Cowen restated their hold rating on shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $150.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

DRI has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. KeyCorp cut their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $163.00 to $159.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Darden Restaurants from $187.00 to $180.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $179.28.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Darden Restaurants stock opened at $170.17 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $150.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $153.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. 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.

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

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Darden Restaurants news, insider Melvin John Martin sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.09, for a total transaction of $352,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,649,483.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sarah H. King sold 15,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,735.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at $4,216,000. Farmers National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 8.3% in the second quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 3,515 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $532,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the second quarter valued at $1,856,000. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 71,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,862,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.6% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $215,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.