Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-seven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $225.19.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on DRI shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Melius Research raised shares of Darden Restaurants to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $209.45 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.59, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.74. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $138.21 and a twelve month high of $228.27. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $201.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 51.81% and a net margin of 8.69%. The company had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.65 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.57%.

Darden Restaurants declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, June 20th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 3.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 11,948 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.08, for a total value of $2,653,411.84. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,645.76. The trade was a 98.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 5,780 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.22, for a total transaction of $1,284,431.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,555 shares in the company, valued at $1,012,212.10. This represents a 55.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 43,714 shares of company stock valued at $9,609,494. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRI. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 171.4% during the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 133 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 108.8% during the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 142 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Centennial Bank AR acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth $34,000. Finally, SouthState Corp acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth $36,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.