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

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) had its price objective increased by UBS Group from $210.00 to $225.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Darden Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $206.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stephens boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.36.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE:DRI opened at $199.92 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $192.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.60. Darden Restaurants has a twelve month low of $135.87 and a twelve month high of $203.47. The stock has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 50.12% and a net margin of 9.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. Darden Restaurants’s payout ratio is 64.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Douglas J. Milanes sold 7,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $766,948.30. The trade was a 66.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,926 shares of company stock valued at $9,850,129 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MCF Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 175 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $451,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,371 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,497,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 1,401 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,527 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,019,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.