Darden Restaurants’ (DRI) “Equal Weight” Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Stephens in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $164.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 2.58% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wedbush raised their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $183.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.46.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $159.87 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $18.78 billion, a PE ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $177.67. The business’s fifty day moving average is $165.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $156.81.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Darden Restaurants will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 5,705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.04, for a total transaction of $981,488.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at $659,601.36. The trade was a 59.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 3,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.43, for a total value of $542,587.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,155 shares in the company, valued at $1,005,911.65. This represents a 35.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. &PARTNERS increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 123.8% during the second quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 3,727 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $564,000 after purchasing an additional 2,062 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 24,913 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,770,000 after buying an additional 1,161 shares in the last quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC now owns 10,743 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,626,000 after acquiring an additional 961 shares during the period. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 14.1% during the second quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $639,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 7.7% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,543 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $233,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.