Truist Financial Boosts Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target to $212.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective raised by Truist Financial from $200.00 to $212.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

DRI has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.00.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $187.63 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $191.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.86. Darden Restaurants has a 12 month low of $135.87 and a 12 month high of $203.12. 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 has a market capitalization of $21.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.03. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. Darden Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.15%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,708.02. This represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.95, for a total transaction of $1,546,437.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,914 shares in the company, valued at $766,948.30. This represents a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 52,926 shares of company stock worth $9,850,129. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DRI. State Street Corp lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,707,456 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $772,635,000 after purchasing an additional 26,601 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,750,658 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $700,210,000 after acquiring an additional 170,336 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth approximately $642,967,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,845,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $530,121,000 after acquiring an additional 39,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,609,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $300,446,000 after acquiring an additional 4,454 shares in the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.