Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Upgraded to “Hold” at Jefferies Financial Group

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) was upgraded by Jefferies Financial Group from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $210.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their prior target price of $165.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential downside of 3.50% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on DRI. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $223.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp raised their target price on Darden Restaurants from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.92.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of Darden Restaurants stock opened at $217.62 on Friday. Darden Restaurants has a 52-week low of $135.87 and a 52-week high of $220.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.47 billion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.75. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $204.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $193.93.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total value of $474,418.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. The trade was a 18.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 20,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $4,271,642.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,249,066.84. This trade represents a 25.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Impact Investors Inc purchased a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $405,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 358,891 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $67,001,000 after purchasing an additional 13,074 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 146,460 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $27,343,000 after buying an additional 4,543 shares during the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $286,000. Finally, Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 32,853 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,133,000 after buying an additional 4,200 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by 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.