Bank of America Raises Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target to $238.00

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective hoisted by analysts at Bank of America from $230.00 to $238.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 19.80% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup cut their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $209.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $196.84.

Darden Restaurants Stock Up 5.6 %

NYSE DRI opened at $198.66 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $23.27 billion, a PE ratio of 22.76, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $203.47.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Matthew R. Broad sold 12,759 shares of Darden Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.37, for a total transaction of $2,390,653.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,684,637.36. The trade was a 47.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 15,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.03, for a total value of $2,888,762.49. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 46,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,472,092.64. This trade represents a 25.43 % decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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