Evercore ISI Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Stock

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by research analysts at Evercore ISI from $230.00 to $250.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the restaurant operator's stock. Evercore ISI's price target would indicate a potential upside of 11.92% from the stock's current price.

DRI has been the topic of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective 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. Barclays increased their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Darden Restaurants has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $209.38.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI traded down $1.40 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $223.36. 1,200,622 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,327,406. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.75. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $206.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.83. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $226.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

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

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total value of $375,431.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. This trade represents a 20.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DRI. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at about $642,967,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Darden Restaurants by 46,484.5% in 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 last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at $84,801,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $75,137,000. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $48,919,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company's stock.

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.

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