Darden Restaurants' (DRI) "Hold" Rating Reiterated at TD Securities

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reissued by analysts at TD Securities in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $215.00 price objective on the restaurant operator's stock. TD Securities' price target would indicate a potential downside of 3.48% from the stock's previous close.

DRI has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $213.35.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $222.75 on Friday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $207.70 and its 200 day moving average is $195.58. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $233.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap of $26.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.11, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.75.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.06. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 50.68%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.65 EPS. Research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. The trade was 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 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $1,495,072.96. The trade was a 20.07% 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 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 9,006 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,871,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter worth $18,906,000. Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 10,138 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,106,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 27,196 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,650,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.7% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 22,444 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $4,663,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.

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