Analysts Set Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Price Target at $201.38

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-six brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $201.38.

DRI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Darden Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at $12,249,066.84. The trade was a 25.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total value of $474,418.14. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. This trade represents a 18.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $642,967,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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 buying an additional 926,901 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 1st quarter valued at $84,801,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at $75,137,000. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth $48,919,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

NYSE:DRI traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $214.30. 1,415,696 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,323,530. The company has a market capitalization of $25.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $202.11 and a 200 day moving average of $190.95. Darden Restaurants has a 1-year low of $135.87 and a 1-year high of $215.68.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. Darden Restaurants's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.13%.

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.