Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $203.09 and last traded at $200.13, with a volume of 69852 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $200.46.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DRI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.52.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 1.1 %

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 company has a 50-day moving average of $190.60 and a 200 day moving average of $173.63. The company has a market cap of $22.83 billion, a PE ratio of 22.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This represents a 25.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 9,264 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.68, for a total value 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. The trade was a 66.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 in the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 96,162.9% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 8,861,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,454,356,000 after acquiring an additional 8,851,795 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth approximately $642,967,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 111.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,469,083 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $241,121,000 after purchasing an additional 772,907 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at $75,137,000. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth $48,919,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

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.