Darden Restaurants, Inc., through its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. As of May 30, 2021, it owned and operated 1,834 restaurants, which included 875 under the Olive Garden, 533 under the LongHorn Steakhouse, 170 under the Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, 81 under the Yard House, 63 under The Capital Grille, 44 under the Seasons 52, 42 under the Bahama Breeze, and 26 under the Eddie V's Prime Seafood brands. The company was founded in 1968 and is based in Orlando, Florida.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts have issued reports on DRI shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $152.00 to $124.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 24th. Cowen lowered their target price on Darden Restaurants from $155.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 16th. TheStreet upgraded Darden Restaurants from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research note on Monday, May 9th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, June 24th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $130.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Credit Suisse Group decreased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $152.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $141.65.
Darden Restaurants Stock Performance
DRI traded up $0.35 during trading on Thursday, hitting $130.23. The stock had a trading volume of 1,029,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,271,845. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $119.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $127.99. The firm has a market cap of $16.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.31. Darden Restaurants has a one year low of $110.96 and a one year high of $164.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.49.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 23rd. The restaurant operator reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.54 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 39.05% and a net margin of 9.89%. As a group, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.
Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 8th were issued a $1.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 7th. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Darden Restaurants's dividend payout ratio is presently 65.41%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, Director Timothy J. Wilmott purchased 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $120.00 per share, for a total transaction of $1,200,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 27,094 shares in the company, valued at $3,251,280. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Timothy J. Wilmott bought 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 28th. The shares were bought at an average price of $120.00 per share, for a total transaction of $1,200,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,094 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,251,280. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Nana Mensah sold 567 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.03, for a total value of $66,356.01. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,170.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.95% of the company's stock.