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

Key Points

• Darden Restaurants has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, based on coverage from 27 research firms, with 18 buy ratings and 9 hold ratings. The average 12-month price target is $226.24.
• The company recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $2.95 versus estimates of $2.94 and revenue of $3.35 billion versus $3.33 billion expected. Revenue rose 5.9% year over year.
• Darden also paid a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, equal to a 3.1% annualized yield. Meanwhile, several institutional investors increased their stakes, and insiders sold shares in recent transactions.

Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-seven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $226.24.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on DRI shares. KeyCorp increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $222.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $196.15 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The business's 50-day moving average is $198.34 and its 200-day moving average is $195.08. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $169.00 and a 1 year high of $228.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 53.54% and a net margin of 8.66%.The company had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is currently 63.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Darden Restaurants news, SVP Lindsay L. Koren sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $58,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,617 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $314,215.44. The trade was a 15.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 3,620 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $731,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $55,391.84. This represents a 92.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,790,128,000 after acquiring an additional 322,079 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,587,939,000 after buying an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 81.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,486,434,000 after buying an additional 3,613,781 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,189,868 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $771,020,000 after buying an additional 68,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,918,165 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $537,001,000 after buying an additional 251,246 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden's restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand's positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.