Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Rating Lowered to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Friday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on DRI. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Wedbush increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $235.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $224.60.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock traded up $1.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $218.02. 1,486,969 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,345,713. The business has a 50-day moving average of $210.24 and a 200 day moving average of $198.07. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $135.87 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.51 billion, a PE ratio of 24.55, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.75. 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 announced its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 51.81% and a net margin of 8.69%. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.65 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Darden Restaurants declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, June 20th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 3.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.06%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In other news, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 11,948 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 147 shares in the company, valued at $32,645.76. This trade represents a 98.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 4,735 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.78, for a total value of $1,059,598.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,602 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,029,835.56. This trade represents a 50.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,463 shares of company stock worth $4,997,442 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 171.4% in the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 133 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 108.8% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 142 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Centennial Bank AR purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the first quarter valued at $31,000. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the first quarter valued at $34,000. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.