Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $225.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price target increased by stock analysts at UBS Group from $210.00 to $225.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. UBS Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 12.55% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $192.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.36.

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $199.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $192.08 and its 200-day moving average is $176.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. Darden Restaurants has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $203.47.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. The company 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%. Darden Restaurants’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Darden Restaurants

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $642,967,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 111.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,469,083 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $241,121,000 after acquiring an additional 772,907 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $75,137,000. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,919,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at about $40,048,000. 93.64% of the stock is owned by 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.