Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) to Hold

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) from an underperform rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $210.00 price objective on the restaurant operator's stock, up from their prior price objective of $165.00.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on DRI. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Darden Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $178.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $205.92.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock traded down $0.77 on Friday, reaching $217.04. The company had a trading volume of 1,329,353 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,324,856. The firm has a market cap of $25.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.75. 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 firm's 50-day moving average price is $204.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $193.93. Darden Restaurants has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $220.79.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is currently 63.13%.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

In related news, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total transaction of $375,431.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $4,271,642.42. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Impact Investors Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $405,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 358,891 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $67,001,000 after purchasing an additional 13,074 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 146,460 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $27,343,000 after purchasing an additional 4,543 shares during the period. Twin Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $286,000. Finally, Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 32,853 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $6,133,000 after purchasing an additional 4,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.