Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Now Covered by Analysts at Melius

Analysts at Melius began coverage on shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) in a research report issued on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set a "hold" rating and a $240.00 price target on the restaurant operator's stock. Melius' target price would suggest a potential upside of 14.58% from the stock's current price.

DRI has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, June 20th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wedbush increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Darden Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $225.19.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

DRI opened at $209.46 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $24.51 billion, a PE ratio of 23.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $138.21 and a 1 year high of $228.27. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $213.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $200.81.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 51.81% and a net margin of 8.69%. Darden Restaurants's quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, June 20th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 3.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 11,948 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.08, for a total transaction of $2,653,411.84. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 147 shares in the company, valued at $32,645.76. The trade was a 98.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 13,569 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.45, for a total value of $2,937,010.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 46,327 shares in the company, valued at $10,027,479.15. This represents a 22.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 43,714 shares of company stock worth $9,609,494 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 46,484.5% during the 1st 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 acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the first quarter worth $84,801,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $75,137,000. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $48,919,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter worth approximately $53,760,000. 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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